tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78968793723129913782024-03-05T03:03:26.649-08:00AzimuthChris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-84629842360196021562016-05-22T00:18:00.001-07:002016-05-22T10:36:55.022-07:00The Colorful World of Rusudan Petviashvili<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Rusudan Petviashvili's works, showcasing her signature style</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">R</span>usudan Petviashvili described her paintings to me as I sat across from her in her Tbilisi studio, characterizing them as often containing everything at once--good and evil, envy and goodwill, peace and turmoil. I came across Rusudan's work in a small bookstore in Tbilisi, where a set of sixteen postcards was for sale. Each was a unique painting of hers, and each enchanted me. I began to look deeper into her art, and finally was able to sit down for a conversation with her. I made my way to her studio in the foothills looking over the Georgian capital on a pleasant spring evening, and was welcomed into the colorful and serene space inside.<br />
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Rusudan graciously translated the vivid creativity that lives within her not into her native tongue of Georgian, but into English for my own sake. I initially thought she likened her paintings to "parabolas", and immediately followed up asking if there was something mathematical behind her work. Indeed, her father's ancestors were physicists (search her surname on Amazon and you'll find a textbook), but she quickly corrected her word choice. She had meant to say "parables", as she illustrated not the structures and laws of mathematics but the fluidity and emotion of cultural narratives. Her eyes shone brightly as she explained further: "Reality is just put inside little fairy tales in order to be more beautiful."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many vivid paintings in Rusudan's Tbilisi studio</td></tr>
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Her work is replete with not only themes but entire stories. There is not just motion, but activity. Rusudan herself is not only an artist, but something of a visual poet. Her words continued to expand upon her delightful perspective, as she said that "every person is like a universe", and she tried to capture the celestial qualities of humanity inside each figure of her paintings. As I looked around her studio, I could see that her art was absolutely rooted in human beings, yet not in so literal a sense that she was painting portraits or classical scenes. Instead, there seemed to be metaphors saturated in color, symbols endowed with human features. She elaborated on many of the symbols, some Biblical, and others simply fantasies of her own mind. Her eyes glowed with youth, a creativity that is as old as the artist herself.<br />
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Rusudan was born in another era, when the homeland she calls Georgia (or in her language, საქართველო - <i>Sakartvelo</i>) was known on maps as the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Free thought and expression were not openly encouraged--parabolas, and not parables, were what geniuses pursued and paraded as the pinnacle of Soviet civilization Georgian culture was suppressed, but, as Rusudan recalled to me aloud, the Georgians would only go along with Soviet decrees while it was convenient. True suppression was something they would not tolerate, and actively resisted. All these years later, Georgian culture is flourishing, with its language, music, architecture, history, and many other aspects very apparent to any visitor. Georgia is certainly not Russified, nor a Soviet relic. Even at the height of the Soviet Union, there was something unique about Georgia--and Tbilisi at it's heart--that gave it a reputation as something of a "Russian riviera" that was known as the home of artists, composers, and poets.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Rusudan's first sketches, featuring perhaps countless small figures--she says she gave each one a story of it's own</td></tr>
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Georgian culture is part of what nurtured Rusudan into her career as an artist, but she also is a product of both an artistic family, of the influence of the Western world, and even the explicit encouragement of the Soviet Union. More than anything, she remarked, she is inspired by her own heart and soul--not by the works of others. Rusudan was sketching and painting from a very young age, under the guidance of her sculptor father and poet mother. By the age of six, she had made over 80 complex drawings. Two years later she was in Moscow, where one of her art exhibitions, scheduled to be two weeks long, ended up on display for three months instead. People came from all over the Soviet Union, in disbelief that they were viewing the work of a child. Some said the art resembled old Georgian manuscripts, but indeed it was Rusudan's own imagination and touch that produced such remarkable beauty. The French ambassador to the Soviet Union was one of her early admirers, and proposed that the Soviet government allow her to travel to Paris to showcase her art. For the Soviets, this was an opportunity to show the height of their people's art, and she quickly became not discouraged but prided. Eduard Shevardnadze, leader of Soviet Georgia, approached her parents in order to ask how he could help foster Rusudan's creative spirit; her mother replied that the best help was to refrain from bothering her.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another of Rusudan's earliest sketches depicting her tale of three giants</td></tr>
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Tbilisi was something of a Soviet Paris, Rusudan told me. This recalled my travels to other versions of "Paris"--Beirut, as the "Paris of the Middle East", and Buenos Aires as South America's equivalent. All earned these titles for their permissive, artistic, and progressive atmospheres at some time or other, but all had also lost that spirit in cataclysms and transformations. Tbilisi, however, had seen a different timeline. Tbilisi was a beacon of this spirit amid the austerity of the Soviet Union's other republics, and all these years later is still a hotbed of culture recognized by its neighbors. Nonetheless, Rusudan's life changed drastically when she left this "Soviet riviera" and went to visit Paris itself--not as a tourist, but as an artist. Her sketches became full fledged paintings, and her life as a whole became equally colorful.<br />
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In the Soviet Union, Rusudan told me, "everything was grey." To her the whole region seemed pale and lifeless, yet inside she felt a burst of vibrant color. "I had a feeling that I was in jail." The Soviets initially refused to allow her to visit Paris, instead suggesting another Soviet artist visit--but the French response was firm, insisting that it was Rusudan and her exhibition that they wanted to bring to France. Rusudan herself didn't participate in the politics of the art scene, but instead simply focused on her work. She looked to stand above the difficulties and conflicts posed by the rivalry of the Soviet Union and the West, and hoped to look inward for her inspiration. Human figures continued to dominate her work, more and more vibrantly. "A human being is a very special creation," she said dreamily. "He can do, he can receive, he can reach everything--can be perfect, can be cruel, can stand above or below himself. I love people who stand above."<br />
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Her first impression of Paris, after visiting as a 12 year old girl, was how colorful everything was. She said it felt free and like a true home--a feeling she is now acquainted with after so many subsequent visits there. When she returned from Paris, Rusudan had difficulty explaining to her peers what it was like. She went back to her work, and continued to excel. The year was 1980, and it was still a decade before she would find the same colorful freedom blossoming in full in Tbilisi. During those coming years, she browsed her father's books in admiration of other artists, finding herself in particular amazement of Impressionist paintings. Other influences included Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have a vague resemblance to the elongated figures in her forthcoming paintings. She also enjoyed the work of Georgian artists, many of whom had been renowned internationally in years past, but she saw their work as a different flavor entirely and not of great influence to her own aspirations. Her own methods drew strongly from Impressionists but with a twist--rather than relying on color as the basis of her pieces, she relied on the lines. She began to illustrate with unbroken lines, never lifting the pencil from the paper, before painting on her color.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rusudan's paintings express fantastical scenes replete with color and emotion</td></tr>
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In a sense, Rusudan's method can be compared to a writing technique called "stream of consciousness." When I asked her if this was a legitimate comparison, Rusudan was puzzled--she hadn't heard the phrase. To me it evoked the writings of Jack Kerouac, I explained. His most recognizable work, <i>On the Road</i>, was written over a three week period on a continuous scroll of paper. Many parts of the book feature what some would call run-on sentences, where thoughts continue at length without punctuation. To many, it was an artistic signature, and I could see the same in Rusudan's method in some vague sense. She had never read Kerouac's work, but seemed interested in his own themes of freespirited travel, and exploring the humanity of post-war American culture. Her appreciation for writing is as innate as her talent for visual art, and I could see the curiosity light up in her eyes.<br />
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Her own experience with writing involved two landmark projects. Rusudan cooperated with a French-Georgian writer, Gastogne Buachidze, illustrating his 1989 French translation of the Georgian epic poem <i>Le Chevalier à la peau de tigre</i> (<i>The Knight in Tiger's Skin</i>). The book has long been out of print, but is still quickly found on Amazon's French website--and features Rusudan's illustrations that attempt to capture entire chapters in a single image. I tracked down a copy, and found that the detail is indeed remarkable. The poem itself is of national pride in Georgia, authored by Shota Rustaveli--whose name now graces one of the most beautiful and well-known streets in Tbilisi. To illustrate such a national treasure was a great privilege, but her later landmark project was even more moving.<br />
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In the 1990s, the Georgian Orthodox Church commissioned a 100 kilogram Bible, each page made from calf's skin. For three years, Rusudan worked on 60 miniature illustrations for this Bible, putting aside all other work. From 9 in the morning until 7 in the evening, this was her focus. It all began when she visited a close friend of hers, a nun, and came into conversation with the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch, leader of the church, asked Rusudan if she was familiar with the Old and New Testaments, as well as the medieval versions of the Georgian alphabet. Indeed, she knew two versions of the medieval alphabet in addition to the modern Georgian alphabet. Rusudan saw this as a special calling--she had fallen into a depressive mood following conflicts in post-Soviet Georgia and the breakaways of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. She was psychologically exhausted, but saw promise in such a project. After three years of work, she felted changed, but couldn't verbalize to me exactly how. In the end, it is an emotion perhaps best seen in her continued work.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A personal touch on the wall of Rusudan's studio</td></tr>
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The themes in Rusudan's work are positive and hopeful, but not without a darker side. Many scenes she paints feature beasts that are undeniably ugly. "Envy has no face," she said. "When I want to express rudeness, there is an ugly face with it." Nonetheless, these darker elements are part of the greater whole. Her paintings, which shows extremes as mentioned before, overall emphasize the concept of harmony. "Life is so," Rusudan remarked, her eyes gazing around her studio. She described evil and bad intentions as plumes of smoke, covering large spaces but in reality having little substance. "Good things are like honey--little, and sweet."<br />
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She directed me to one of the most unique paintings in the room--a sketch, but far more advanced than the earliest paintings of her youth. This one was of Noah's Ark, and, like her other works, truly presented a story. One critic had counted something like 800 individual figures in the scene, but Rusudan shrugged it off--she wasn't sure how many were really there, as she simply let the scene flow from her imagination. Crafted when she was 12 years old, around the time of her first trip to Paris, this one was now valued at one million dollars. I stood in front of it cautiously, less taken aback by the price tag than by its detail. It is infinitely intricate, with detail to the millimeter. It features a ship floating not on the sea, but above the sea, with sails like fish scales and bird feathers. It resembles also the variety of patterns in the plume of a peacock, or the patchwork of a quilt. In the scene one can spot a sleeping beauty hanging in a basket, twig-like oars, proud masts, fluttering birds, leaping fish, yelping dogs, blaring trumpets, and a single disk of sunshine with a red pupil like an eye with rays. There are bearded men with chests like roosters, women with cascading locks of hair, three rafts, and opposite the sun hangs a crescent moon. It's able to be read, examined, and explored.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The intricate painting of Noah's Ark, straight from the mind of Rusudan Petviashvili</td></tr>
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Across all of her paintings, Rusudan has several persisant images and themes. There are scenes of people who love one another, not outwardly but inwardly such that they create their own souls. Wings on women show their yearning to fly, despite being tethered to a man at the time. Birds on the heads humans, looking to the east, serve as a symbol of positive and inspired mindset. A bird in the hand, however, indicates poetic nature of the depicted person, and the moon behind the head--like a halo--shows a man who is a gentle dreamer. Boats carry problems, while angels come to save those in the boats. Some paintings feature only a single sun, while others have many. A large one indicates a brilliant and shining person underneath it. Some of the figures have two faces, in an almost Picasso-like fashion, showing that they wear a mask. Humans, she explains, act as one person but inside are another. Anger can be a mask for misery, kindness a disguise for strictness. Painted rivers flow by like life itself, unobstructed and always in motion.<br />
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Rusudan's dreamy world is alive and well in her paintings, and her intent is express her true feelings--especially that of love. She was 22 years old when the Soviet Union fell, and all these years later her artwork has continued to flow despite ups and downs. I asked her what goals and dreams she still has, but she shook her head, stating: "I never dreamed. I don't like to dream. No... I have a vision." I was puzzled, and pressed her to elaborate. She continued: "In dreams, things never really happen, they happen already in dreams but not reality." She smiled. "But to wish is good--you are gathering your strengths to make something."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A work in progress</td></tr>
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Rusudan's words left me inspired, augmenting the power of her artwork. She continues to be recognized in Georgia and across Europe for her unique style and powerful message, and undoubtedly will continue to paint for the rest of her days. Her work can be viewed in the National Gallery of Georgia in Tbilisi, at Rusudan's <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiCnuOFj-3MAhUi1oMKHa4uCWIQFghAMAo&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRusudanPetviashviliGalleryArtCafe%2F&usg=AFQjCNE2ZB77DV5NiJvmo9N8UMwe7nYorw&sig2=SOlxbIsl1bYEyRC-XGn2pw" target="_blank">Gallery Art Cafe in Batumi</a>, Georgia, as well as on her <a href="http://www.petviashvili.net/" target="_blank">official website</a>. Each piece is intricate, beautiful, and inspiring. More of her work can be found in collections and exhibitions throughout Europe, and hopefully will continue to gain renown as a pinnacle of modern Georgian art and a colorful expression of human emotion.<br />
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I asked Rusudan for her wishes, rather than dreams--what she wished for her country that she had watched transform over all these years, and for herself who had also transformed. "For Georgia, I wish her to be independent, united, filled and overflowing with kind, good Christian people. Kindness is the main thing, to be a special country and have her place in the community of the world. Everyone should know of Georgia's kind influence, and that this kindness is always shining toward everyone." She took a deep breath, and continued: "for myself: my aim is to be on a very high level, to be always truthful, have strength to be truthful, to be always filled with love, never love the inner feeling of love. Love strengthens, losing love is exhaustion. Love in and of itself, inside of the self."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The door to the outside, a last glimpse of art before I concluded our interview</td></tr>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-68327491962713166962016-04-01T02:52:00.000-07:002016-04-07T05:21:22.820-07:00Searching for Shade in Buenos Aires<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The city of Buenos Aires wasn’t particularly green when I
arrived in August 2015—it was the middle of winter, colder than I expected, and
most of the trees were deciduous yet decidedly leafless. Earlier that year, I
was walking through San Francisco, California with my friend Ken who pointed
out that it was all too common to find that any given street in the city was
paved with concrete from wall to wall. There were hardly any patches of bare
earth or virgin grass outside a designated park in the City by the Bay, and
Buenos Aires presented a very similar image. My new neighborhood, Palermo, was
split into several smaller areas such as Palermo Soho (charming with the
occasional cobblestone streets, featuring trendy Italian-inspired cafes in cozy
plazas) or Palermo Hollywood (auto shops, night clubs, and corporate
headquarters on less pedestrian-friendly avenues). Trees were everywhere, but I
didn’t really begin to appreciate them until the spring bloom sometime in late
October. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Around the same time as my stroll through San Francisco, I
had started a small project focusing on the urban forest of Buenos Aires. To my
delight, the city government offered a tree census in their online data repository.
This census was a table documenting the species, genus, common name, height,
address, grid coordinates, and other attributes of a few hundred thousand trees
in the city. I was able to open the data in QGIS, my computer struggling to
load all these thousands of dots stacking up on top of one another within the
borders of Capital Federal (the administrative boundary of the Autonomous City
of Buenos Aires, or CABA, and capital district of Argentina). QGIS is a
powerful open source mapping software, and it would be my primary tool as I
moved forward with my study. I changed the size of each dot that represented a
tree, and soon was able to see neat lines along the main streets with some
parts of the city more densely covered than others.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDCNRvgd7SHYXwuNUO_QucsuTghDmHryzwD3BcQnbNL8s4BIumft2LyPLVK63CiaTjc578BXcfbdlKIAltgUEEMPE17ntlnMWSXoVFMbhuIPdFQAOwW9ev9UxIIlpjvcYeLuMWP6862fe/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDCNRvgd7SHYXwuNUO_QucsuTghDmHryzwD3BcQnbNL8s4BIumft2LyPLVK63CiaTjc578BXcfbdlKIAltgUEEMPE17ntlnMWSXoVFMbhuIPdFQAOwW9ev9UxIIlpjvcYeLuMWP6862fe/s640/1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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My first analysis was
to look for any connection between the density of trees and demographic data. I
found quickly that the poorer, less educated, and more immigrant-dominated
southern part of the city was nearly barren of trees in many parts. This area
included Nueva Pompeya (an industrial district) and La Boca (“the mouth”, were
the old port was built on the mouth of a river and still quite the skid row). Palermo,
a haven for expatriates (i.e., non-immigrant foreigners) like me in contrast to
less affluent immigrants in the south, was well covered. Palermo’s ritzy but
quieter neighbor to the east called Recoleta was also quite green. In the heart
of the city—really the northeast corner—Microcentro and San Telmo were also
very lacking in urban forest, but featured a wealthier resident population,
with high levels of education especially near the University of Buenos Aires
and areas dominated by foreign banks and technology headquarters (Google, for
example, is located somewhere in the overlap of San Telmo and Microcentro). </div>
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So
what to conclude? More trees tended to accompany a better standard of living
and higher socio-economic status. In addition, areas with higher proportions of
Argentine-born residents are also more densely forested, showing perhaps an
attitude of better environmental health and greenery where residents feel more
invested in the land as their past, present, and future home. These are my
theories, at the least, judging from
associations in the data.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjID7g3B2tkAbJbOmTilNVFLdBkZAHMM9D2XbDyL-nJ60Ozp0Pxc3ewIUSRB-e2j0mdZEAjfjoAAwhmw2-EhdPH4dTd3-E1coWfCQy4DxdmwhXV-I_0uBzbcv__BDoKPFsrvpH1th0wHF5W/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjID7g3B2tkAbJbOmTilNVFLdBkZAHMM9D2XbDyL-nJ60Ozp0Pxc3ewIUSRB-e2j0mdZEAjfjoAAwhmw2-EhdPH4dTd3-E1coWfCQy4DxdmwhXV-I_0uBzbcv__BDoKPFsrvpH1th0wHF5W/s640/2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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On my arrival in Buenos Aires, I began to look at the city
under a more environmental lens than a social one. Upon my arrival, I was able
to meet with Manuel Swarcz, a middle-aged Argentinean man who was the director
of an organization called Arboles sin Fronteras (Trees without Borders). He had
overseen tree-planting projects all over the country, including in parts of
Buenos Aires. In our first meeting I explained my past research that made use
of the tree census. Manuel was quite interested,; I suggested we speak again in
another week, and so I retreated back to my Palermo apartment to ponder the
next steps over a bottle of Malbec. I created a new layer for the map that
showed not the precise location of each tree, but the density within 500 square
meter hexagons instead of in kilometer wide squares as before. Now I could see
in great detail where the urban forest was concentrated, but I still needed to
think deeper about how to make something useful out of this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The idea came to me slowly, relating to some scientific
publications that discussed benefits of urban forest. One was the regulation of
urban temperatures, particularly combating what is known as urban heat island
(UHI) effect. It appeared that I could help Manuel by suggesting where to
target tree-planting efforts in the city in hopes of lowering temperatures and
covering the city’s bare spots with green leaves. I spent several long nights improving my
knowledge and skills, eventually being able to proficiently construct two new
map layers to accompany the tree census. Both of these layers have their origin
in NASA’s Landsat8 satellite, which takes images of every part of the earth
several times over the course of each year. I chose imagery from a clear day in
December 2014—summer in Buenos Aires—and downloaded these images in 11
different bands of light to include infrared, red, green, and blue. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKotzPm-HsYcZyutfaHrpX-kr8LIF03Fv5swGbjiYQ0NW2fa33QCrR4VMUcyDngzEt03DouSDC5gVt6hMov_RzP1KL1LoNqSXG9SwDUgEPq58_27fPhjcqYkPYpsWivMjmCo4pZNqo5IN/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKotzPm-HsYcZyutfaHrpX-kr8LIF03Fv5swGbjiYQ0NW2fa33QCrR4VMUcyDngzEt03DouSDC5gVt6hMov_RzP1KL1LoNqSXG9SwDUgEPq58_27fPhjcqYkPYpsWivMjmCo4pZNqo5IN/s640/3.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In my first layer, I
depicted was is called Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This is a
visualization of vegetation and plant presence, and can even be used to
evaluate the health of these plants by people more skilled than me. For my
purposes, I was able to create a layer that painted the map green where any
form of plant life existed in the city. The premise for this is that plant
life, especially in the green variety, reflects a certain level of radiation to
the atmosphere that can be detected by the satellite. As a result, I could
indeed see the green expanses of many parks, of the ecological reserve near
Microcentro, and other widespread locations in the city. Combined with a map of
the tree census, this allowed me to really gain insight into which parts of
Buenos Aires were truly green—and which were note. Again, the south was
lacking, the city center as well, and finally the airport and railways along
the northern stretches of the city that made up the right bank of the Rio
Plata.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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My second layer showed Land Surface Temperature (LST)—an
indication of the temperature in degrees Celsius not in the air, but on the
actual ground. This comes from a similar process as calculating the NDVI.
Uncovered rock and dirt, impervious surfaces such as roads, and other man-made
structures like rooftops and runways reflect their own rather unique level of
radiation back to the satellite. This is first detected through something call
at-satellite brightness, which is converted again to degrees Kelvin and then
Celsius to be more informative for the common viewer. Adding a color gradient
to the result, I was able to find the maximum and minimum LST during that
December day, with the coolest being shown in blue, moderate temperatures in
yellow and finally the highest temperatures in orange and red. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What I expected was to find that it was visually obvious
that more trees and greenery resulted in lower temperatures. Indeed, the
airport and railway areas in the north, as well as another railway station in
the central part of the city near the Floresta neighborhood, were the color of
a hot iron as expected. Major streets were also red, in addition to other rail
lines, the sea port near La Boca, and much of the industrial south such as
Nueva Pompeya. Surprisingly, though, there were some ultra-cool spots. The Rio
Plata was blue, indicating of course that the water was a lower temperature
(it’s certainly not inviting to swim in, neither due to temperature nor its
brown color). Some other ponds and small lakes in the city were also blue.
These made sense—but then in the Floresta neighborhood, near the red hot train
station, there was a little oasis of dark blue that was unmatched anywhere else
in the city. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAb94CJwy8LEy7ivI5BECW_kUHJDQwEnGaZVRyZq_kYNw2LY3krgy06TZNuZroVUeGIQ_3f8mFlqEh4HOon37yOC4OVrx7zU8KEX_AWzu7orSSOrT_B7aA3pqgedOLwAqqkQm8Nse2XA5/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAb94CJwy8LEy7ivI5BECW_kUHJDQwEnGaZVRyZq_kYNw2LY3krgy06TZNuZroVUeGIQ_3f8mFlqEh4HOon37yOC4OVrx7zU8KEX_AWzu7orSSOrT_B7aA3pqgedOLwAqqkQm8Nse2XA5/s640/4.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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<br /></div>
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I went to Manuel with my latest map. The NDVI layer was
interesting to see, as it expanded the conclusion on which parts of the city
could be called green or not. The LST, however, was the true point of
conversation. Manuel put on his reading glasses and pored over my screen,
impressed to see the variation in temperatures as indicated by the rich colors.
He nodded as he looked at the airport and railways. Near the Plaza Italia
underground station in Palermo, the base layer labeled the Sociedad Rural (Rural
Society) beside what was also a dark red despite being surrounded by one of the
city’s largest, grassiest, and most forested parks.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“What could this be?” he
asked. I wasn’t sure. Then his eyes drifted to Floresta and we both furled our
brows at the dark blue. “And this?” he asked again, putting the eraser of his
pencil against the screen. I wasn’t sure about that one either, but it held
some value—in the realm of UHI, there was a more desirable effected that could
be called an urban cool island (UCI). I had hoped a density of trees and
greenery might cause this effect, but neither the tree census nor the NDVI
indicated anything special about Floresta. I left Manuel’s office again,
determined to investigate the scene of the UCI and find the cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5vELDgtYckIpYTibP2YKAQzHE0R6d-WsgdRSg3aBF5xMSLmdhz6WZL7WfDpq8ppZdvSt8RI56kgAJacBfGNob23JI2onAKcGMPDGaYtNfQYPRrSXLokov7lSpty-5CPFe3ecltSOcnWv/s1600/5.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir5vELDgtYckIpYTibP2YKAQzHE0R6d-WsgdRSg3aBF5xMSLmdhz6WZL7WfDpq8ppZdvSt8RI56kgAJacBfGNob23JI2onAKcGMPDGaYtNfQYPRrSXLokov7lSpty-5CPFe3ecltSOcnWv/s640/5.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next week, my friend Aditya and I went strolling through
the center of the cool spot. It was about four by four city blocks—or manzanas
(apples), as the locals called city blocks—and faded still over several blocks
in every direction. I brought Aditya as an extra set of eyes, hoping he would
notice something I might miss. The area was dominated by sidewalk flea markets,
two- to four-story buildings, clothing shops with broad windows, and wide
streets with an unremarkable number of trees. The sun seemed to cast its light
on the streets throughout the whole day, so it wasn’t particularly shady on any
of the streets. After an hour of walking, Aditya and I were stumped. “Maybe
there was a cloud over this area when the satellite took the image,” he
suggested. I sighed, nodding and thinking that it must have been a stupid
mistake on my part. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Back behind my computer screen, I chose another clear day
that same December to convert to LST—and the cool spot was still there, in just
the same shape. This was certainly no cloud, but a persisting phenomenon. While
this news was exciting, my next meeting with Manuel left us both disappointed
at the same time. The mystery would take more time to solve, but I was
scheduled the fly back to the US in a week’s time with no plan to return
anytime soon. I mused with Manuel over how to get better insight—maybe the
elevation was significantly different in Floresta than in neighboring parts,
causing some effect on the wind. But the city was overall quite flat, we both
agreed, shaking our heads. Could there be something underground causing the
temperature to cool—perhaps a sort of cavern? There didn’t seem to be any
effect like this in the areas with underground stations, so perhaps it wasn’t
the case. Maybe an underground river, or the rooftops were comprised of some
peculiar material. Maybe the height and shape of the buildings did something to
reflect heat differently? It was all a mystery. The real question, however, was
still useful—how could we recreate this effect in the hotter parts of the city,
and make them more habitable and temperate?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mystery still remains. UHI is an important issue being
studied around the world today, as heat waves kill more humans annually than
any other type of natural disaster or extreme weather event. Urbanization is on
the rise, with more people flocking to city centers for economic and social
reasons. Global average temperatures are also on the rise, which makes concrete
jungles even more hellish and in need of greenery. Trees and vegetation are
certainly crucial to lowering urban temperatures, especially when placed along
waterways. But what happened in the Floresta neighborhood on those December
days, and perhaps every day, may hold the key to some other advancement—a way
to go beyond just augmenting urban greenery and to more drastically lower urban
temperatures on sweltering summer days. It may be a secret that neither I nor
anyone else ever unlocks, but nonetheless it remains as a reminder of how
complex our world is despite all the technological lenses we use to study it’s
changing relationships.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-81373200555154516142015-05-25T22:31:00.000-07:002015-10-28T12:00:52.045-07:00Talking About My Generation - About Wilderness, Wonder, and Wandering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibggfFuB-B3fPa8-Vwrt50tXGsmIOhSha1RGBTOi-4qLrzRTb1555Q2lBwYJCXHcS9rj1M3YD9uCbtYq2yeW0ckVpV_897nK-RqLmUBRd7Gl_W5_banRGWHu9f6aJiGWS_8e7qpAsi0M1/s1600/goat4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibggfFuB-B3fPa8-Vwrt50tXGsmIOhSha1RGBTOi-4qLrzRTb1555Q2lBwYJCXHcS9rj1M3YD9uCbtYq2yeW0ckVpV_897nK-RqLmUBRd7Gl_W5_banRGWHu9f6aJiGWS_8e7qpAsi0M1/s640/goat4.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountain Goat in the Washington Cascades. Photo by Christopher Beddow, 2014. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
There is a significant clash of ideas between the well touted, vivacious Millennial drive and a rather unsung Millennial counterculture. While a seeming majority is striving to achieve social mobility, to live a life not of hollow financial gain but of abundance in both tangible and intangible generation of value, another strain of philosophy shrugs off all the pressure to build a great socioeconomic cathedral. Instead, this strain insists that judgment is always undue, and that we Millennials should live a life free from the expectations of others. It insists that we should live according to our most fundamental desires, and that above anything else we should cherish truth. It is a strain that shares with the Millennial attitude of common publications that the world needs less corruption, more tolerance, more free expression. But it is also a counterculture that advocates withdrawing from an economic society that may be inherently corrupt, impersonal, wasteful, and manipulative.<br />
<br />
As Millennials, many of us are not part of one school of thought or the other, but instead we inhabit both worldviews. One is simply a shadow of the other, but still inseparable. Most of us have deviated in one direction. Very likely, almost all of us have done so once, perhaps briefly, before getting on with life in the other direction. For others, there has been an awakening of sorts, as if discovering a new truth in that shadow of culture. The result may be a mounting crisis, where there is uncertainty about doing what we do best, versus doing what society needs most, versus doing what we love, versus doing what produces the most invigorating fruits of success. The possibilities are many, and all have their merits. However, it should be acknowledged that for our generation, like many before us, there is a raw passion that stirs when we look not at our careers but at the concept of adventure in the wilderness. By wilderness I mean that which is strange to us—foreign countries, new cities, new subcultures of our own societies as well as the countless other cultures in faraway lands, and of course the forests, streams, fields, mountains, and canyons that are often a temporary getaway. There is a yearning, small or large, to sometimes drop everything and make for the wilderness. For some, it happens when no one is watching, for others it remains a dream, and for some it manifests in brief moments where an e-ticket is dropped into your inbox, or a campground reservation email rings bold among the work messages.<br />
<br />
To enter a forest is to enter a realm of silence. One spring evening, I walked to the nearest patch of forest, and was overtaken by an instinct to tread softly. Chirps and flutters from birds in the canopy reverberated like whispers in the dim light, while laughter echoed from the park on the street. I walked deeper into the sanctuary bound by trees, down a switchbacking path of wooden steps. As I emerged from the trees onto a wider dirt thoroughfare, I happened upon a bench among the brooding ferns. I took a seat, and looked into the greenery before me with no particular focus.<br />
<br />
I can remember going into the forest to find peace for as long as I remember being able to walk. They may very well have been coinciding developments, and certainly they were a reflection of my interests in the same way that we are drawn to our favorite genres shortly after learning to read, and we tend to favor certain dishes once we learn to cook. For me there is a certain redemption in nature, made possible through no greater effort than to simply walk into the solitude it offers and stay awhile. As a child, I would set out from my backyard to explore the forests in the valley below, following Alkali Creek in search of its source and establishing my own personal outposts that I would often revisit. On trips to my grandparents’ home an hour away, the edge of the driveway and the limits of the lawn marked the beginning of the pine trees of Custer National Forest and the Beartooth wilderness. I would wander through the woods, happening upon new tributaries of the creeks and lush wild raspberry bushes that would upset my stomach hours after munching on them. The western meadowlark would sing in the distance, and I felt a sense of stillness, a will to sit beside a tree and just listen for hours.<br />
<br />
These trees have become a critical piece of my murky conception of home. They also subtly influence my view of the universe, for as I look back I can connect the dots between my dependence on an escape into the wild for peace and my rationale that if there is anything divine in this world, it is most especially apparent in the humble vastness of nature. Growing up in a community that was largely Catholic, I found that what spoke to me most were a few lines from the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, rather than anything among the usual doctrine: “Cleave the wood, I am there; lift up the stone, and you shall find me there.” I was later introduced to the philosophy of Taoism through a remarkable book that compared its tenets to the stories of Winnie the Pooh. This experience instilled in me a sensation of calm, a faith above all else that everything would be okay. Later, like many over the decades I was inspired by the words of author Jack Kerouac, and drew warmth from some of the final lines of his distressing novel <i>Big Sur</i>: “Something good will come of all things yet—And it will be golden and eternal just like that…”<br />
<br />
Much of this floats chaotically through my mind, day after day—these small snippets of insight as alongside far greater grapples with existence. All of it, however can come to a sudden silence the moment it collides with the reality of everyday life. Existential musings are freely shared around late night campfires and dwindling cases of beer, but Tuesday at lunch discussions are painstakingly more mundane. Certainly our society, and societies far and wide, are not so centered on religion that the meaning of life is discussed day after day, but often we fail to share our collective confusion about what it all means. I’m writing not about the ideas of piousness, of which church or temple or other structure you call yours, nor about the doctrine and dogma that defines beliefs. I’m writing instead about the sense of wonder that shrinks us down into infancy when we’re caught off guard under seemingly infinite fields of nighttime stars, and the astonishment that arises when considering how different life could have been if minute decisions had been altered only slightly. It is the joy that comes with waking up from a perplexing dream only to wonder where you are, finding that you’re camping on a mountainside with dear friends and not rising to the alarm and about to start another day at work. Our human sense of awe can be aroused by nearly anything, but it stays dormant unless called. Nature, however, is like an intoxicant that erodes our rigidity and lets that awe trickle out, drop by drop, until it flows just for a short while.<br />
<br />
As a member of what’s called the Millennial generation, much of today’s cultural commentary claims to have a grip of what we all want, how we make decisions, how we see ourselves, and what stokes our fiery ambitions. We are all driven by a desire to chase our passions, by a refusal accept social injustice, by a vision of a better world and a happier life. We will not stand to live in vain, nor to waste our talents. Every single one of us. And yet it’s prudent to wonder—did our predecessors not feel the same once? Did they really give up, and assume a lifestyle that was so different from the life our generation wants? Do they not also have a life replete with memories of that sense of human awe that makes life blindingly joyous for only precious moments at a time?<br />
<br />
The need to capture and maintain the idea of this generational utopia may be dangerous, in all truth. I believe my own mind is more delicate than I ever realized in days past. In setting goals, in dreaming dreams and in imagining possibilities, I was never cautious. Often I still am not, to the degree that I can imagine the best and imagine the worst. I’ve certainly been conditioned to think critically about any plan or decision, in order to be prepared for the worst and thus avoid it altogether. I’ve also learned that statistically my wildest dreams are an overestimation of the future that actually develops. There has been pressure in many years past to succeed, to be brilliant, to develop and showcase talents. My Millennial attitude was cultivated by a continuous cycle of reinforcement from almost anyone imaginable—and also by a fear of disappointing all those who so genuine, or perhaps sometimes so absentminded, as to offer endless encouragement. The pressure created by telling young students they are the future of the world, and telling them that they can accomplish anything, leaves a worry that to fall short of grandeur is to fail.<br />
<br />
My personal dilemma has always been the attempt to rectify an enduring cognitive dissonance. This refers to two worldviews that flow apart, or perhaps even against one another. This is perhaps the very same conflict that exists between Millennial culture and the shadow that is very much a part of the whole. I have always seen the opportunity to seek prestige and achievement. Sometimes I have pursued it. Like many of my generation, there is confusion about “what do I really want” and a fear of self-inflicted misdirection. There is a conflict between living a life that has meaning only sometimes, and trying to imbue every hour with awe. It is truly impossible to do the latter, in the same way that summer always ends and the weekends come to a close. Life must be balanced, but where is the balance point? Where do we compromise, and how do we avoid compromising too much when we aren’t sure what is truly the limit?<br />
<br />
People often adopt new values as they go through life, and I certainly do so. I have come to value compassion, intimacy, curiosity, and freedom. I’ve come to question many other values, finding that I am not sure what merits my hardest efforts, and am not sure if I should seek to fulfill material wants that exceed my needs. There is a rising consciousness among many for the needs of others, for the freedom of others to do as they please, for the health of nature, for the good of the community over the self. There is an anxiety about being greedy, about supporting destructive causes, about denigrating culture and breeding division. Often the compromise that young people are making is that of the Millennial counterculture—they are sacrificing their own opportunities for gain in order to ensure the wellbeing of the community, of the environment, and to overall promote peace and equality. There are many who forgo money, reconsider their morals, and temper their ambitions in order to not achieve success but to achieve goodness. And many are seeking to fill not their resume, but their autobiography by reaching out for redemption in nature, in travel, and in exploration of ideas.<br />
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What is most notable to me about my generation is the number of people who are truly concerned with doing good. They are not interested in doing good under the premise of particular religions or philosophies, and they want a career to be one that makes the world better, rather than earns them individual recognition. There is a sense of wonder that is very much alive in these people, and it is in conflict with many traditional systems. Perhaps the way that society works, the way business works, the way government works will all change in coming years and decades. However, many others will abandon it as a lost cause, and seek fairer meadows in unusual careers or journeys. What is important about Millennials is important about all people—that we need to cultivate our awe of the universe. We need inspiration from nature, from dreams of travel, from speculation about traveling to the stars and about a better world. All of us have a willingness to compromise on some level or other in order to meet this need. Some give it more credence than others. Some spend years traveling alone, some pick a destination each year. Some have a passion for the outdoors alongside their urban lifestyle, and some never stop learning about new cultures on far shores.<br />
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If I have learned anything from coming of age at this time, it is that our entire existence is a thing in flux rather than something static. Nothing is purely pleasurable, and nothing is purely painful. As Millennials, many of our most joyous moments are yet to come, but just the same some of our greatest traumas are also looming. Life will be wonderful, and yet life will hurt. More generally, life will continue to change, and what we want will also continue to change. Our dreams will come and go, our success will be recognized and forgotten. Nonetheless, amid all of the delightful chaos, life will work out okay if we’re able to simply be okay with it all. Everything wonderful will always lose its charm, and every hardship will always relent into calm. We won’t fail to become disenchanted with things we direct our passions toward, and the benefit of this is that we realize there’s no need to hold onto anything too desperately. Inspiration and wonder will always awaiting, just as they did in childhood, as we look around us and explore the breadth and depth of every locale, every relationship, and every blossoming change.<br />
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<!-- End of StatCounter Code for Blogger / Blogspot -->Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-44453775495827105862015-03-01T08:02:00.003-08:002015-03-02T11:23:12.445-08:00Midnight Sun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">-Herman Hesse</span></blockquote>
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It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, and the sun had refused to set. My first night in Iceland was shrouded in fog and mist, but this third night was clear to the horizon's end. The Westman Islands, a small archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland, felt like one of the remotest places I had ever experienced if for no other reason than the lack of darkness. It was beyond the reach of night, a frontier in the summer sun. We had pitched our tents in an eerie wasteland of black sand and rusted metal, overlooking a glassy seascape with grass covered islets in the distance. I went to sleep with a hat pulled down over my eyes, to fool myself into thinking it was nighttime. The constant sunlight was a source of infinite energy, as the atmosphere was always that of a pleasant afternoon or a long-stretched moment of sunrise.<br />
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Further north, on the Snaefellsness Peninsula, the experience continued. I had hitchhiked with my haphazard travel companion, Gerrit, from the end-of-the-earth road where the ferry from the Westman Islands reached the mainland for the better part of a day to make camp once more on a serene shore. Hellnar was a small fishing village nearby, recommended to Gerrit by an old Icelandic man in a pub, that had a ghostly sort of charm. We were dropped on the highway and had descended into the village around midnight. Finding only a sleepy yet idyllic scene, we marched on through dew-soaked grass until we reached a secluded bank of the sea, rife with driftwood and the smell of those stringy plants that wash up in the tide. Looking back toward the village, the mighty snow-capped volcano called Snaefell loomed over the quiet landscape. The sky was rosy and vast.<br />
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A day later, we hitched several more rides to the north side of the peninsula, stopping in Stykkisholmur to restock on wine and select a few items for dinner--Icelandic salmon and lamb, to be cooked on the fire. As the hour grew late once more, we passed by breathtaking fjords with their ridges mirrored on the water. We hiked up from the road and into a bleak field, something like high plain though just a few meters above sea level where cracked mud and parched shrubs made up the windswept scene with mountains in the distance. We roasted the meat on a fire made from gathered scraps of long fallen fences and washed up debris, and stayed up chatting until the sun had outlasted us once again.<br />
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The long days and nights, the lost sense of time, and the brilliant pastels of Iceland that summer are what stay with me the most. The people were cheerful, the food nourishing, and the road itself kindly led strangers like me to places set in dreams. There is much more to Iceland than a few scenic locales, there is a greater story of the society that inhabits its modest expanse, and there is more to explore and understand than can possibly be realized in a brief few weeks. In the end, however, I sat on a snowfield high above the port village of Seyðisfjörður knowing that this little island had imbued a calm satisfaction into me.<br />
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Iceland is seen best through whatever perspective suits you--for me it was the shoulder of a highway and the half-zipped aperture of a tent. It could be said to be a place like those in dreams, perhaps due in part to the calm and in part to the bizarre qualities of some of its landscapes. I had set out with a list of Icelandic destinations I wanted to see, but ultimately I came away with an experience far different from what I imagined. It was more spontaneous thanks to my sudden taking to hitchhiking over buses, more serene thanks to the fortune of good weather, and more inspired thanks to the edifying content of both the culture and endless panoramas.<br />
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I was enduring a rough phase of life before Iceland. My trip to this little boreal paradise was certainly no unforeseen, monumental turning point in my life, but rather came to be a deliberate instrument for self-reflection. I came back and decided to make it the setting for a long period of writing and self examination. Iceland, for me, was a special place because it coincided with a long overdue pause in life. I didn't discover anything new about myself there. I took the time in those two weeks, and for months afterward, to instead consider what I already knew, to truly come to embrace it--realizing, for example, that things don't simply happen to a person as much as a person lives them.<br />
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The day after I returned from Iceland, I wrote an introduction to what would become a novel. I was sitting in the backyard of my parents' house, in what I call my mother's garden. I wrote a simple description of the plants all around me, many of which I couldn't name, before relating it to a much larger garden which I had just visited. It was a garden, or perhaps a wilderness--something I often debated in the over sixty thousand words that comprised the entire novel. In the process of writing it, I refined my views of the world and came to suggest that one of the most challenging parts of life is confronting a fear of truly walking away from your past with no umbilical cord to keep you tethered. I mused that we are all raised in a garden of sorts, and that many of us later set out beyond the pale and into the wilderness. The wilderness can be stressful, terrifying, and discouraging. But like any wilderness I have seen, there is a certain rugged beauty and excitement that comes with all of that, and it is a place where curiosity thrives.<br />
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I've finished writing all of the words, and now I am undergoing the equally arduous process of editing the entire feature into something worth reading. I expect to be finished by summer, a full year after I took my trip. The cover is below--it is titled "No Man's Land: Under the Icelandic Sky", and features one of my photos as the backdrop. The specific scene is from Hellnar, just near the campsite of the shores of Snaefellsness where an old boat that had weathered many years dominated a magnificent scene before the sea and the mountains.<br />
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If you're interested in following the progress of the book, would like to be informed as I ready it for release, or have any comments or questions, please leave a comment below or contact me <a href="mailto:christopher.beddow+iceland@gmail.com" target="_blank">here</a>. It's a piece of writing that has been very important for me, and that I hope may be memorable for others some day, too.<br />
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-47932622300493319172014-06-24T21:07:00.000-07:002014-06-25T10:59:17.732-07:00Using Buddhism to Understand Abstract Art--and Vice Versa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://spie.org/Images/Graphics/Newsroom/Imported-2009/1643/1643_fig1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://spie.org/Images/Graphics/Newsroom/Imported-2009/1643/1643_fig1.jpg" height="378" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Convergence" by Jackson Pollock (1952)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a name='more'></a>We've all heard the common saying about many famous pieces of abstract modern art--"my five year old could paint that," someone comments. The attitude seems to be one of utter disappointment, as if someone has wrongly received recognition in a field that has a clear aesthetic standard. Then there are those who seem to stare away at these canvases so curiously decorated by the likes of Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, or Wassily Kandinsky. "I don't understand it," they say, searching for meaning. Then there are students of art history, who study Italian Futurism and the Cubism of Picasso and Braque, reading commentaries from the artists themselves, from their contemporaries, from critics, and comparing the art to the social environment that surrounded the art, influenced it--or perhaps produced it some may say. And when finally someone stands before a perplexing painting and says "ah, I get it," can any of us really help but wonder if they are only pretending? Does it seem, perhaps, rather arrogant, to proclaim to understand all the subtlety, the complexity, or the simplicity, or to even derive meaning where there may never have been any intended? Thus is the enigmatic effect of abstract art. We see it no less psychologically than we do aesthetically or visually.<br />
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Pablo Picasso stated in an interview that "we all know that Art is not the truth." He continued, "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand." Such an ambiguous statement seems fitting for much of Picasso's later work, and furthermore perhaps in tune with the times. Transcendentalism was ages old by Picasso's time, but a Western interest in Buddhism, along with Taoism, Hinduism, and Eastern Philosophy in general was on an unrelenting rise. Many of these modes of thought floated the idea of the world as an illusion. The idea is hardly new in Europe, however--Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" presents a similar idea, explaining that in a sense humans are only seeing the shadows cast on a wall by a burning fire, rather than that which actually produces the shadows. In other words, again, the world is an illusion. Existence is not real, or not what it appears. We don't truly see. And hence, we are like that variety of standers-by who gaze on abstract art and belt out our conclusions on the experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://josephkoontz.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/allegory_of_the_cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://josephkoontz.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/allegory_of_the_cave.jpg" height="270" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plato's Cave (by Allen Koontz)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The very same sort of dilemma, however, is presented in Buddhism across the centuries--whether it is ancient Mahayana scriptures, or more recent--and cryptic--Zen Buddhism from Japan to San Francisco. Zen Koans particularly come to mind. These short, poem like scripts aim to teach a lesson through an indecipherable parable. The mystery is whether there is really some hidden meaning to a Koan, or whether the silliness of it is intended to drive the learner toward or away from some idea. All that can really be concluded, from our laymen perspective, is that a Koan serves to nudge one toward finding truth. The whole concept is oddly similar to Picasso's statement. The controversy around Koans is similar to that around abstract art.<br />
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A fine example of a Koan is as follows:<br />
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<div class="content">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #993333; font-family: serif; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 5px 0px;">
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">A monk told Joshu, "I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Joshu asked, "Have you eaten your rice porridge?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">The monk replied, "I have eaten."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Joshu said, "Then you had better wash your bowl."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">At that moment the monk was enlightened.</span></div>
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The interpretation is open to all. While these Koans often tell the story of legendary Zen masters, even more traditional sutras following the more familiar Buddha can convey a similar lesson, and leave the reader just as puzzled. In fact, the Flower Sermon seems to have the very raw intention of highlighting the entire experience of trying to understand the indescribable, whether it is Zen philosophy or Fauvist art. It reads, in one translation:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #993333; font-family: serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 5px 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Toward the end of his life, the Buddha took his disciples to a quiet pond for instruction. As they had done so many times before, the Buddha’s followers sat in a small circle around him, and waited for the teaching.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>
<span style="background-color: white;">But this time the Buddha had no words. He reached into the muck and pulled up a lotus flower. And he held it silently before them, its roots dripping mud and water.The disciples were greatly confused. Buddha quietly displayed the lotus to each of them.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>
<span style="background-color: white;">In turn, the disciples did their best to expound upon the meaning of the flower: what it symbollized, and how it fit into the body of Buddha’s teaching.When at last the Buddha came to his follower Mahakasyapa, the disciple suddenly understood. He smiled and began to laugh.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Buddha handed the lotus to Mahakasyapa and began to speak.“What can be said I have said to you,” smiled the Buddha, “and what cannot be said, I have given to Mahakashyapa.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Mahakashyapa became Buddha’s successor from that day forward. </span></blockquote>
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The ending seems to be similar in both the Koan and the sermon--the one who understands does so suddenly, and it is more than understanding. It is enlightenment, it is bliss. In Buddhism, such a bliss is a result not so much of the teaching, but of the individual overcoming the obstacle of self. Furthermore, Buddhism sees enlightenment as something one keeps within, rather than expressing outwardly. It is not an achievement to brag of, and it is said that one who claims enlightenment is not truly enlightened, but rather the truly enlightened are hidden among us.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://harijan.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/mahakasyapa.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://harijan.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/mahakasyapa.jpeg" height="338" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Flower Sermon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
And so we come back to abstract art. The very arrival at understanding of a piece of abstract art can be likened to the idea of Buddhist enlightenment--it is a realization that does not call for a monologue. The meaning of the art may be indecipherable, or it may simply depend on the mind of the observer. The mind of the artist also seems to matter quite a bit, but really the accomplishment of such works of art is the way they influence viewers to search for interpretation and find some meaning that is fundamentally human rather than sophisticated and complex. And that meaning does not have to be ubiquitous, universal among all, but is open to interpretation. Such is Buddhist philosophy, and in the end it is true that in neither art nor Buddhism is there any indesputable authority besides your own. Understanding what the art truly means is as difficult to grasp as who you and I truly are, both independent of one another and as an inseparable whole.<br />
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Does your brain hurt yet? At the very least all this talk should have you thinking, examining yourself and the meaning of all that you perceive, and that is the essence of art, self, and existence.</div>
</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-18388635731855592172014-04-25T19:45:00.001-07:002014-04-25T19:45:47.374-07:00An Excerpt from "Landscapes: Drifting in Armenia and Georgia"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb1GEolRSw70L2S9yh-sV1JTqlWtVQyO6x26wJgPoix1lVSCshfJ4BEyesbnvCydic6DecjiTX5oDVzg8xKlPO1zi3E-LJZtTfN_e5rOJjw4rGa1zgzJ9Yd2RUUMnf7yqCeAK4X70CblX/s1600/DSCF1059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb1GEolRSw70L2S9yh-sV1JTqlWtVQyO6x26wJgPoix1lVSCshfJ4BEyesbnvCydic6DecjiTX5oDVzg8xKlPO1zi3E-LJZtTfN_e5rOJjw4rGa1zgzJ9Yd2RUUMnf7yqCeAK4X70CblX/s1600/DSCF1059.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A shot from my travels through northern Armenia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> O</span>ff I went into the afternoon. Another cheap car ride, and a conversation with a</div>
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large middle aged woman where she asked questions in Russian and I asked her to</div>
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repeat, repeat, repeat. A stop for coffee, a cigarette by the highway while the driver filled</div>
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with gas, and contemplation of the windswept plains. An hour later, it was the Georgian</div>
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border, and the Russian-speaking woman went back to Armenia in another car as she had</div>
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forgotten her passport. I presented my passport, and we proceeded to Akhalkalaki. Akhal</div>
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means new, and kalaki means city.</div>
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At Akhalkalaki, the new city, we first stopped by an automotive shop to pick up</div>
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motor oil. I stepped into the store, curious, but when I asked for a toilet was directed to the</div>
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grassy passage behind the building. I returned to the car after stepping out back, and the</div>
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driver took me another few minutes down the road. Finally, we pulled over at what I</div>
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assume was near his house, and he explained that he lived in this town. I told him I</div>
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wanted to find a bus to Akhaltsikhe, which was at least another hour's drive, and he</div>
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somehow got across to me that he wanted fifty dollars to take me there himself. I chuckled,</div>
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and shook my head. I grabbed my pack and started walking. I pointed down the winding</div>
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road toward a river, which the road crossed on a bridge before darting down a canyon.</div>
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“Akhaltsikhe?” I asked.</div>
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“Da,” he responded in Russian. Yes. “Autostop?”</div>
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58erVtsOUlAiU6YjthEsUyeCzTtXoh-5eYnQk-ZsMbkzL2UhEwgBePLeKDLS4cuxgNMJG7xHPhDAnXjH_6C0_6eGqgsChqgadZk6uHGjPatbj4NMNvLTh03kAZ85mqIEjLRclkimXwOwu/s1600/DSCF0740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58erVtsOUlAiU6YjthEsUyeCzTtXoh-5eYnQk-ZsMbkzL2UhEwgBePLeKDLS4cuxgNMJG7xHPhDAnXjH_6C0_6eGqgsChqgadZk6uHGjPatbj4NMNvLTh03kAZ85mqIEjLRclkimXwOwu/s1600/DSCF0740.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out for a walk in Akhaltsikhe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I nodded. Autostop is a French word, but perhaps has become rather universal, and</div>
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means hitch-hiking. That is precisely what I hoped to do. I walked and walked and walked.</div>
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The canyon was beautiful, fraught with old caves and debris along the river such as an</div>
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armored personnel carrier that was being used as support for an irrigation pipe, or a</div>
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railroad car that had been propped up as a bridge. Georgia was already slightly more</div>
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beautiful than Armenia. I felt, somewhere deep inside, that I was at home—I knew I could</div>
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camp out here and survive if I needed to. I walked seemingly endlessly, however, but</div>
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eventually a van pulled aside and picked me up, whisking me away to Akhaltsikhe. I would</div>
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make it after nightfall.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuIUPRx04Skxcru51Qmp6vuHdmM_hCQbjDLa3xzR5i4YKtQv2W-GIcD_s1StmUJAKvodINhO3oO2K94y32dAxFGHTz0bSyFJFafQJQgSxIfQsuLVpjbG43FQW_cg6Sik7fENwMTSkH8gbe/s1600/DSCF0718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuIUPRx04Skxcru51Qmp6vuHdmM_hCQbjDLa3xzR5i4YKtQv2W-GIcD_s1StmUJAKvodINhO3oO2K94y32dAxFGHTz0bSyFJFafQJQgSxIfQsuLVpjbG43FQW_cg6Sik7fENwMTSkH8gbe/s1600/DSCF0718.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once a train, now a bridge </td></tr>
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* * *</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> L</span>andscapes overtake the soul. They are bigger than us, larger than life. They are</div>
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the scenes and settings for events as small as just a beautiful day and as large as great</div>
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battles or migrations of civilization. The word landscape makes me think of a sprawling</div>
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mountain valley replete with bison, with a cool wind under the late summer sun. Taken</div>
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from a distance, it is one large picture, but in focus there are more details than one could</div>
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ever notice. Landscapes tell stories, and landscapes never forget history. Whether it is the</div>
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steppes of Central Asia, which perhaps describes the part of Armenia I was in at the time,</div>
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or whether it is the enchanting threshold of the Grand Tetons—the place I always wanted</div>
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to call my real home—landscapes have a unique ability to inspire awe and reverence in</div>
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mankind.</div>
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The ties between landscapes, or even nature as a whole, and our emotions, are not</div>
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easily denied. People travel the world every day seeking beautiful places. Yet beauty is in</div>
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the eye of the beholder, we always hear—and that is the key. Beauty is something we</div>
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visualize, which in turn strikes us deeply and moves the soul. Our sense of awe is tied to</div>
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our other five senses, and our vision is one of the most important. Touch, taste, and smell</div>
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can have strong effects on our emotions, but perhaps nothing truly riveting. The greatest</div>
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potential effect from those three senses is really a negative one, as pain, bad odors, and</div>
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repulsive tastes will inspire an energetic and forceful reaction, where as good feelings,</div>
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pleasant smells, and pleasing flavors will inspire a gentle, restrained sense of approval.</div>
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But sight and sound can be life changing.</div>
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNmanPMIt3qN4ydxU3ZfEdNnfOUmftlu4LXQADSlbnLFw_59tuiubbKake-8LGARdnFQkKvf27FIQjeW3Uq1rqfeg1B6ctu7-922eLPzOQ2MumOsUSlDUVHSZrIY5GXOcJa4JglTNfUy32/s1600/DSCF0706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNmanPMIt3qN4ydxU3ZfEdNnfOUmftlu4LXQADSlbnLFw_59tuiubbKake-8LGARdnFQkKvf27FIQjeW3Uq1rqfeg1B6ctu7-922eLPzOQ2MumOsUSlDUVHSZrIY5GXOcJa4JglTNfUy32/s1600/DSCF0706.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windswept plains and the mountains beyond just outside Gyumri, Armenia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Words. Music. Being witness to events, or an observer of great visual beauty or</div>
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horror. The possibilities are perhaps boundless. But to seek to constantly stimulate and</div>
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even overwhelm these two senses, as a goal in life, as a mission, is to really live. My own</div>
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travels were a pilgrimage in search of awe. Others chase sights and sounds with an equal</div>
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sense of religious fervor. Majestic mountains, the sound of silence, or simply the sound of</div>
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people living, of languages that I didn't speak yet that I realized were all viable and</div>
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understood by people somehow—this to me was holy. In some of my time, I took a deep</div>
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interest in languages, in finding that I could speak to another human being in words that</div>
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my own brother could never recognize, yet it would convey real meaning. That was Beirut.</div>
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But in Georgia, I began to sink into the scenery. It is not necessarily the most scenic</div>
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of countries, as I would be loathe to describe it that way a tourist may describe the beauty</div>
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of Yosemite Valley. To me, the value was in the way the landscapes touched my soul. The</div>
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way it made me believe that I was experiencing something holy and divine, rather than just</div>
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seeing the sights and calling it a vacation. What I was seeing was true, real, and primeval.</div>
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Older than time, older than words, the cradle that raised a segment of the vast human</div>
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civilization, and an environment where the results turned out differently than the next.</div>
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People did not worship these mountains, traditionally, but in an even more divine sense</div>
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they simply existed alongside them.</div>
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* * *</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I </span>spent the night in a feasible excuse for a hotel room, located above a nondescript</div>
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shop adjacent to the parking lot that was called the bus station in Akhaltsikhe. The early</div>
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evening before this sleep was spent on the town, where I made vodka toasts with young</div>
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Georgian rascals excited to meet an American, who asked me to meet them in the same</div>
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square the next morning to make a hike to the monastery of Sarapa. I later ducked into the</div>
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nearest restaurant, and once again my dollar went miles in bringing me a sumptuous meal.</div>
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I tried the khinkali, which although touted to be a unique and staple Georgian food was</div>
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little more to me than a variation on the potsticker.</div>
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I awoke the next morning beneath a pile of warm wool blankets, feeling toasty and</div>
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rested. I stepped into the bathroom, which consisted of a toilet, a bucket next to it, and a</div>
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waist-high trash can full of water to use as my imagination pleased. I was quick to pack</div>
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and move on—the six dollar room had served me well. I started out of my room, waved</div>
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thank you and goodbye to my hostess, and descended the stairs into daylight. I</div>
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immediately followed the road, then the train tracks, and felt delightful in the golden sun of</div>
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an early morning in November. As I walked the tracks, I looked up at old medieval walls on</div>
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the hillside, thrust high above the rest of the city and unavoidably the center of attention.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-IxhyjBenMniBnU7_hnZPBDS7j_ZvSPZpz94ueB753kEjfc9ABrNzWv41emSPgdKq9i10xpNR6W-eG7UVmSgks9M0qVlhLI_PjzqdSdsdN7Q_yhYSAt9knSuWofdseDRwtcD7o6lwvll/s1600/DSCF0707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-IxhyjBenMniBnU7_hnZPBDS7j_ZvSPZpz94ueB753kEjfc9ABrNzWv41emSPgdKq9i10xpNR6W-eG7UVmSgks9M0qVlhLI_PjzqdSdsdN7Q_yhYSAt9knSuWofdseDRwtcD7o6lwvll/s1600/DSCF0707.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A village street on a winter morning, southern Georgia</td></tr>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-46524903581365635602014-04-09T19:09:00.002-07:002014-04-09T19:09:49.577-07:00Four Cups of Tea: Unusual Flavors to Sip <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“…the first sip is joy the second
is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth
is ecstasy.” –Japhy Ryder, <i>The Dharma Bums</i></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">T</span>ea is a thirst quenching, relaxing,
and almost universally traditional drink. Morning tea, bedtime tea,
even afternoon tea—it’s to be found everywhere in the day, all
across history, and around the world. Black tea, green tea, chamomile
tea, and many more are staples at grocery stores and restaurants.
Looking around a little harder, there are a few lesser known flavors
and varieties, nothing new to some parts of the world, that are a
pleasant novelty to many of us. Read on for an overview of four of
these teas, and consider them next time you’re stocking the tea
cabinet.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Saffron Tea</u></span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.saffronspices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/saffron-tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.saffronspices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/saffron-tea.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cup of golden hued saffron tea - from saffronspices.co.uk</td></tr>
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A spice with ancient allure and
enduring use, saffron is important in many foods from India to Spain
and all in between. Very commonly found today in your local Persian
restaurant, the flavor of the spice is complementary to its perceived
health benefits. The ancient Egyptians use it in food and medicine,
and today in Iran it is still popular to believe that saffron is a
sort of cure-all for simple ailments. Often made by dropping crystal
saffron candy in water, saffron can also be found in tea form. It
takes tens of thousands of crocus flowers to produce just a small
amount of saffron, and this combined with the delicate hand
cultivation makes for one of the world’s most expensive spices.
Benefits may include alleviating respiratory problems, aiding with
sleep, curbing depressin, and it is even said to serve as a
sweat-inducing aphrodisiac. In addition, saffron tea has a rich and
sweet flavor, enough reason to make it a drink of choice any given
day.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Sage Tea</u></span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tasteofbeirut.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sage-tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tasteofbeirut.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/sage-tea.jpg" height="458" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glass of Lebanese sage tea - from tasteofbeirut.com</td></tr>
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Native to the Mediterranean region,
sage is also well regarded as an herb frequently employed in the flavoring of
delicacies. In ancient Rome, sage was also revered for its medicinal
properties, and over time its use in the form of tea was popularly embraced in several cultures. French sage tea became widely produced by the
1700s, and was in high demand in China as an alternative to
traditional tea. Meanwhile, it today remains prominent for cultivation
and consumption as tea in the Middle East, especially in places like Lebanon
and Syria along the Mediterranean coast, while in Turkey the herb on its own is even
referred to as “island tea”. Sage has empirically demonstrated particular potency in improving memory and learning in people with Alzheimer’s
disease, while it is also traditionally believed to be effective in
treating mouth and stomach pain, digestive problems, weak appetites,
and depression. The unique aroma of sage makes for a soothing and
pleasing flavor for any adventurous tea guzzler</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u><br /></u></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1290791/thumbs/o-YERBA-MATE-570.jpg?1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1290791/thumbs/o-YERBA-MATE-570.jpg?1" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A traditionally prepared cup of yerba mate - from huffingtonpost.com</td></tr>
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A South American herb called Yerba
Mate is the basis for this increasingly well-known tea, already well
established in countries like Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina and
even imported en masse to places like Lebanon. Native to Paraguay,
Yerba Mate was first introduced outside of South America and the
Guaraní tribe in the 1500s, when the Spanish began their conquest of
the region. By the 1600s it was being imported into Spain as an
alternative to English tea, but its use ebbed until the 1800s when it
was officially documented by a German botanist and once again began
circulating. While the taste is bitter and earthy, this drink, said
by the Guaraní tribe to be a gift from their gods, is alleged to
have a holistic effect on health including relieving fatigue, heart
conditions, headaches, depression, urinary tract infections, as well
as assisting in weight loss and fluid retention. Be sure to try it if
you’re traveling in its historical home, but also look for mate in
many grocery stores as it grows in popularity.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Kava Tea</u></span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-A0cip_aYImvemPONkmgFr4qGxjbpr0yo2IvaAtVPTrwSk9H2pgxzcmQCJmD41RIuWupfo5g6cf051GhdQZHm5NFERgoiOP1q6R_xxkda-tMB1UMOyVFYZRHrj0_AI3fmCAs1_jMQDZcA/s1600/kava.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-A0cip_aYImvemPONkmgFr4qGxjbpr0yo2IvaAtVPTrwSk9H2pgxzcmQCJmD41RIuWupfo5g6cf051GhdQZHm5NFERgoiOP1q6R_xxkda-tMB1UMOyVFYZRHrj0_AI3fmCAs1_jMQDZcA/s1600/kava.png" height="474" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Women making ground kava - from the book "Kava: From Ethnology to Pharmacology" edited by Yadhu N. Singh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Originating in the tropical Pacific
islands, from Tonga to Hawai’i and Tahiti to Fiji, kava has been
domesticated for over 3000 years. Sometimes celebrated for its
vitalizing, life-giving powers, legends tells that kava first grew
from the womb of a buried woman and curried the grief of her mourning
brother. Captain James Cook, journeying across the Pacific,
encountered the drink and named kava “the intoxicating pepper”—a
reference to both its flavor and effects. Today, the bitter-tasting
herb is exported from the Pacific across the world, and still used
locally in as a social drink, as well as for ritual and medicine.
While kava most notably brings on a relaxing and sedated sensation,
it is also used more specifically to treat anxiety, depression,
psychological ailments, as well as venereal diseases and infections.
Found in some grocery stores, kava is most readily available when
directly ordered from growers in the South Pacific. Take care,
however—kava is banned in Canada and a few other countries for its
alleged link to liver damage, a curious irony considering its
consumption has been displaced in the Pacific islands by the use of
alcohol as an alternative.</div>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-72959043615059170472014-03-02T13:22:00.002-08:002014-03-03T10:06:00.607-08:00Russia, Ukraine, and the Crimean Cultural Overlap<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Note: It has been brought to my attention that the use of the phrase "the Ukraine", with a definite article before the country's name, may be interpreted as an affront to Ukrainian sovereignty--it essentially is referring to the country as "the borderland", a geographic region, rather than a distinct, sovereign state. I have corrected this in my article, to address the country only as "Ukraine". Thank you to the gentleman who corrected me, and for all who are curious about the background, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-ukraine-isnt-the-ukraine-and-why-that-matters-now-2013-12">see this article from Business Insider</a>.</i><br />
<br />
The headlines are buzzing about Ukraine, finally giving it extensive coverage due first to civil unrest and now to the mobilization of Russian military forces. Russia's invasion, however, isn't all it's cracked up to be--what's happened bears very little resemblance to the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, nor to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, or even the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. In fact, this is hardly an act of international aggression at all, but more an act of passive aggression. Most important to recognize is that the Crimean Peninsula--in Ukraine's far south, jutting into the Black Sea--is inhabited by an ethnically Russian majority, and only in a vague sense has any political bonds to Kiev.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/GnUjJDx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/GnUjJDx.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map illustrating the particularly Russian character of Crimea, as well as other parts of southeastern Ukraine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The linguistic divisions of Ukraine are one thing, and can easily be simplified on a map such as that above--showing a generally gradient part of Russian influence the further southeast one moves. However, this does not tell the whole story--in fact, among several Ukrainian regions, there is a high level of preference for Russian language in larger cities, with more use of Ukrainian in more rural areas. Without any in depth study, this could suggest several things--a tendency for ethnic Russians to be more urban, more successful due to choice of language, or a dominance of Russian language in administrative and business centers. Overall, it also demonstrates that there is not always a consistent grouping of Russian or Ukrainian speakers on a micro scale, as on the macro level suggested in the map above.<br />
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<div>
For a series of photos that mock the idea of Russian occupation of Crimea being called "shocking", <a href="http://imgur.com/r/worldpolitics/QZfLKM7" target="_blank">see this album on imgur.com.</a> Indeed, the Russian troops are being welcomed by some. This is certainly no armed conflict or struggle.<br />
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The lack of Ukrainian culture in the Crimea has often left its inhabitants considering themselves to be Russian, as well as leaving Russians considering Crimea an extension of their own country--not far fetched, considering it has been so before. Indeed, the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based out of the city of Sevastopol, and has been for many years; Russian military presence there is nothing new on it's own. Award-winning journalist Michael Totten, <a href="http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/russia%E2%80%99s-invasion-ukraine-was-easy-predict" target="_blank">visiting Crimea in 2009</a>, described its quite Russian character in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TIDGC4/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008TIDGC4&linkCode=as2&tag=michajtottesm-20" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Where the West Ends</a>:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In Sevastopol, once again, I found myself forgetting I wasn’t in Russia. The overwhelming majority of people who live there are Russians. The language they speak is Russian. Actual Russian soldiers and sailors were all over the place.</span></blockquote>
Totten expanded on the significance of Crimea in Russian and Soviet history, providing a satisfying answer to what many of us may be asking when told that Crimea is essentially a part of Russia already, making its occupation by Russian troops less than shocking. Totten explains:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Crimea is a de-facto independent Russian-speaking republic, but if it weren’t for Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev it would still be part of Russia. In 1954 he moved an internal Russian border around and placed Crimea in Ukraine. It didn’t seem like a fateful decision at the time, one no more significant than giving Idaho a slice of Montana. He had no idea any part of Ukraine, let alone all of it, would ever break loose from Moscow. He should have known it was possible since it had happened before, but he did not see it coming, or at any rate didn’t care, so this Russian-majority region is marooned outside of Russia.</span></blockquote>
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The main difference now is that Russian troops are moving freely throughout the peninsula, controlling highways, airports, and even surrounding a Ukrainian military post and demanding that the Ukrainians lay down their arms and submit to the overtly pro-Russian local authorities. According to many in the media, this move by the Russian military has the potential to be a stepping-stone for Russian intervention further into Ukraine, in a move to exacerbate the destabilization of a pro-EU, pro-Western government. While the American government threatens vague consequences, and others--such as Poland--staunchly assert their support to Ukraine, it is not likely a full-scale invasion that looms over Ukraine.<br />
<br />
While the past two American led coalitions in the Middle East and Central Asian have seen full fledged occupations of entire countries, that is not the game plan in every major power's agenda. For Russian, taking advantage of chaos in Ukraine to make a land grab in the Crimea may be all the gain they required; the installation of a pro-Russia government in Ukraine is certainly another desired outcome, but not something that will beg a major military campaign to accomplish. Very probably, Crimea will remain under Russian control, possibly resulting in a new border, but the rest of Ukraine will remain autonomous on the political map and exist only under the shadow of Russian influence. Though perhaps the unpredictable will occur, it seems an actual war between Ukraine and the heavyweight neighbor to its east is not about to happen.</div>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-19538360969656333592014-02-19T18:55:00.001-08:002014-02-19T18:55:32.461-08:00The Many Armenias<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last month I was in for a visit with the doctor, and before I stepped out I asked him one last question: "Are you from Armenia?" His accent wasn't quite telltale to me, but between an Armenian name that I had an eye for--often ending in "-ian", like the all too well known Kardashians--and a postcard depicting Mount Ararat, my curiosity was piqued. Indeed, he was Armenian, but he was born in Iran. "Farsi baladi?" I asked him in the Iranian tongue, and he amusingly confirmed that yes, he did speak Farsi. I had dated an Iranian girl, I explained, when he asked how I learned, and I explained that I generally have an affinity for languages and had spent time in Beirut studying Arabic before I visited Armenia myself. "My wife is from Beirut!" he exclaimed, mentioning the city's famous Armenian quarter, Bourj Hammoud. And there I was in Southern California, home to perhaps one million Armenian-Americans, discussing Mount Ararat with an Iranian-born Armenian man who was married to a Lebanese-born Armenian woman.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mia-azar.com/files/gimgs/17_armeniatownmiapage1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://mia-azar.com/files/gimgs/17_armeniatownmiapage1.jpg" height="452" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bourj Hammoud's main avenue (mia-azar.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In the 21st Century, there are many Armenias, whether in North America, South America, Europe, or Asia. In days past, however, Armenia was unique in that it had two parts in quite different places, and the Armenian diaspora of today truly begins during this time. While I was living in Beirut in 2011, I quickly heard about the sizable Armenian community there, and before long found myself in Bourj Hammoud exploring the architecture, the posters in strange writing, the different types of food, and the overall atmosphere of the Armenian quarter. My interest only grew from there, and soon I was reading up on just what brought the Armenians to Beirut. Shortly thereafter, I had booked a flight from Beirut to Yerevan, the Armenian capital that sits at the foot of Mount Ararat.<br />
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Learning what brought so many Armenians
to Beirut was a sobering study. Rather than finding some odd and
amusing turn of historical events, I instead as made aware of the
grim and brutal Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide was very
likely the first time the word "genocide" was applied to
any atrocity involving ethnic persecution, and despite its notoriety
among Turks--the perpetrators--and Armenians, it seems that few in
the West have heard of it, especially considering its position two
decades in the shadow of the Nazi Holocaust. <br /><br />The story of
Armenia is a long one, with little known roots in rather well known
history. Armenia proper is wedged between the rugged landscapes of
eastern Turkey, Northern Iran, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Armenia’s
history is a rich one, with many glorious periods of self-rule and
expansion—including Armenian presence on the shores of the
Mediterranean, in modern day Syria and Turkey, as early as the first
century B.C. The original boundaries of the Armenian nation ran
roughly around the three major lakes of the region—Lake Van, Lake
Sevan, and Lake Urmia. Today Armenia, is much smaller, but at times
it was much larger yet.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QB8K9Nts6mJPGd-dbEZssCIk1ls1Vnz2UbClyUG0qyY2q_7Eb5fN8N_XSyD3CQIbftgr5M-IDeKaxxuwtDfqQUVqpxbepiQVCEQNZ5ewWk7UjWqCEMS6i4bTVMwZtiak450XH-AoSV7g/s1600/DSCF1093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QB8K9Nts6mJPGd-dbEZssCIk1ls1Vnz2UbClyUG0qyY2q_7Eb5fN8N_XSyD3CQIbftgr5M-IDeKaxxuwtDfqQUVqpxbepiQVCEQNZ5ewWk7UjWqCEMS6i4bTVMwZtiak450XH-AoSV7g/s1600/DSCF1093.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My own photo from Yerevan, Armenia, 2011--Mount Ararat the larger peak on the horizon.</td></tr>
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Although lying on a distant horizon
from such cultural centers as the Levant, Byzantium, and mainland
Europe, Armenia set itself up for a crucial role in history by
becoming the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official
religion. By the time the Roman Empire had split, leaving the
Byzantine Empire to rule the east, Armenia gravitated toward the
Christian capital on the Bosphorus and became an object of contention
as empires wrestled for control of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and the
Middle East. Armenians continued to migrate toward the Mediterranean,
and soon the Kingdom of Cilicia became a center of Armenian culture
and Christian civilization in lieu of the Armenian kingdom in the
east, which came under tight Islamic rule.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
By the time of the Crusades, there were
two Armenias. The western kingdom, in Cilicia, became a strong ally
of the Crusaders and their kingdoms, and as a result the state became
fully autonomous—free of political control from Byzantium as well
as military threat from Arab Muslims. Despite playing a crucial role
in enabling and supporting the Crusades, Armenia failed to keep its
foothold. The Egyptian Mamluks brought turmoil to the region, and
Cilicia soon found itself under Muslim rule, or that of the prince of
Cyprus at different times. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aghtamar.org/Aghtamar/main/images/map_tb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aghtamar.org/Aghtamar/main/images/map_tb.jpg" height="536" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(aghtamar.org)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Weakened, with political power offshore or
abroad, the kingdom later fell victim to the sweeping conquest of
Tamerlane. Turks began to move in, and Armenians were forced out,
thus initiating a diaspora within a diaspora. The wealthy fled to
Cyprus and Western Europe; others spread through the near east and
even remained in Cilicia. The sun had set on Armenia’s period of
expansion, and soon both the eastern and western parts were under
Ottoman rule. Meanwhile, Armenians had settled in such far flung
places as Amsterdam, Calcutta, Singapore, and Ethiopia in pursuit of
opportunity, fortune, and serenity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup>
Century, the Armenian Diaspora was taking on its modern appearance,
driven by the rule of Ottoman Turks that brought religious and ethnic
discrimination to a Christian people in a Muslim realm. Ottoman rule
would cause the first major wave of modern dispersion; the Armenian
genocide would be next, followed by the fall of the Soviet Union.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Armenian Genocide itself took place
over many years, but it’s beginnings, like other genocides, were in
radical political ideals incorporating totalitarian nationalism,
racism, and xenophobia. In the late 1800s, an Armenian push for more
political and religious freedom was met on several occasions with
repressive violence. Tension between ethnic Armenians and the Ottoman
government was cultivated in the years leading up to World War I, and
Armenia, alongside several other Ottoman fringe territories, became
to lean toward open rebellion and dissent. In an eerie parallel to
the policies of Nazi Germany, the Ottomans passed vague legislation
in the name of security that allowed for resettlement and deportation
of Armenians who threatened the empire. As Turkey entered World War
I, many Armenians saw salvation in the Allied forces, particularly in
the potential of Russia to defeat the Turks in the Caucasus and Black
Sea region. As a result, the overt actions of some Armenians led to a
brutal state-sanctioned reaction by the Ottomans, and deportations
began en masse.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02090/armenia_2090627b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02090/armenia_2090627b.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the more mild images of the Armenian genocide--Turks marching deportees to the desert, and to death. (telegraph.co.uk)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Armenians first began to lose their
property and wealth, then faced exile. Long marches through the
unforgiving Syrian desert became a staple policy. The Three Pashas,
who had become the ruling triumvirate of the empire, began a campaign
of atrocity as their solution to what was being called “the
Armenian Question”. Diplomats from America, Germany, and beyond
were witness to the Turkish treatment of the Armenians, and were
quite aware of the greater plan of “Turkification” of the Ottoman
Empire. At the same time, Turkish intellectuals were debating methods
of purifying Turkish language—removing Arabic and Persian terms,
among others, in order to create a language that was free of outside
taints. Such thinking, again, is indicative of a radical and
xenophobic sentiment that was infiltrating the Turkish psyche.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Soon the Armenian population of the
Ottoman Empire shrank from almost 2 million to less than 400,000—with
1.5 million not just deported, but many of them killed in what would
later be deemed a genocide. By the time the Ottoman Empire had
completely dissolved as a result of defeat in World War I, the
Republic of Turkey was all that remained—with a nearly non-existent
Armenian population. Those who survived did so mostly outside the
newly formed republic, in nearby places such as Russia, the Balkans,
Greater Syria, and the nascent Armenian republic to the east. This
small Armenian state was at war with Turkey almost immediately,
before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1922.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.armeniapedia.org/images/8/86/224-genocide.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.armeniapedia.org/images/8/86/224-genocide.gif" height="330" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Armenian people were once again
beaten, stateless, and spread thin. In 1935, William Saroyan, an
American writer and son of Armenian immigrants, synopsized the
enduring Armenian spirit:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>"I should like to see any power
of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant
people, whose history is ended, whose wars have been fought and lost,
whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose
prayers are no longer answered.... For when two of them meet anywhere
in the world, see if they will not create a new Armenia!"</i></span></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Indeed, Saroyan’s own parents had
arrived in the United States in 1905 from the Ottoman Empire, and
settled in California. Major American cities saw Armenian influx
before World War I, then after, as refugees fled Ottoman oppression.
After World War II, Armenians abroad returned to the new Soviet
Armenia in some cases, while others continue to go west to Europe and
the US. Beirut, however, remained the primary recipient city of
Armenian migrants. Beirut’s proximity to the Armenian Genocide
meant that many Armenians arrived on foot from the Syrian desert, and
the foundation of communities in such places as the Bourj Hammoud
neighborhood or the city of Anjar formed a cultural gravity in
Lebanon that continued to draw Armenian immigrants to join the
gathering masses. <br /><br />In 1975, civil war broke out in Lebanon,
and over the next fifteen years Beirut would be rattled and broken by
sectarian violence. The Armenian community, unlike the native
Lebanese, saw little reason to become invested in the conflict and
aimed for neutrality. However, many saw emigration as their best
option, and these Armenians left Lebanon for the United States, many
arriving in California and what is now known as Little Armenia. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After
this wave of the Armenian Diaspora, another followed as the Soviet
Union withered in the 1980s. In 1991, upon the fall of the Soviet
Union, the Republic of Armenia became an independent state—but few
Armenians rushed back. The myriad expats worldwide expressed
skepticism at the Russified culture and government of the oldest
Armenian homeland, while many others—a majority—had no knowledge
of family history in this Armenia, but rather only in western
Armenia, the Ottoman Empire, Lebanon, and Cilicia.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/ArmenianDiaspora.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/ArmenianDiaspora.png" height="280" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of the modern day Armenian Diaspora. (Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The result of centuries upon centuries
of cultural dispersion is an Armenian Diaspora that exists today in
many Armenias. Whether it is in California’s busiest cities, along
the banks of the Seine, the Georgian countryside, the sprawling
metropolis of Moscow, or at the edge of the world in Argentina,
Armenians have spread far and wide with little desire to return to a
long lost home—if it even exists. Thus is it a plausible story that
an Iranian born man found a cultural connection to his Lebanese born
wife, has visited the forsaken slopes of Mount Ararat, brought home a
postcard, immigrated to the United States, and still calls himself
an Armenian. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Truly, home is where you make it in the case of the
Armenian Diaspora, and being Armenian in a too big world is something
unique. As 20<sup>th</sup> Century Armenian writer Gostan Zarian put
it, “Being an Armenian is a merciless task and a heroic enterprise.
It is a commandment, a mission, and a destiny that history has
imposed on us from the depths of centuries. We are the shock troops
of the struggle between light and darkness… And we are charged with
an awesome responsibility.”</div>
</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-32310854167896158162014-02-02T16:32:00.000-08:002014-02-02T16:32:14.483-08:00Old Ambitions, New Ambitions - The Nicaraguan Canal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIKuIHCRSH81nfHUOxNt8W2ggeN2_1oepDCpiFn8m-KyxJ636edjFvxxBLvqtJzy7_1xx7uz7LecK77de47_XD8x631DX0UKkLpB2Z5k1LqPgc62fanTaQRZXbIeatWrFrm99CglMnFqn/s1600/canal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQIKuIHCRSH81nfHUOxNt8W2ggeN2_1oepDCpiFn8m-KyxJ636edjFvxxBLvqtJzy7_1xx7uz7LecK77de47_XD8x631DX0UKkLpB2Z5k1LqPgc62fanTaQRZXbIeatWrFrm99CglMnFqn/s1600/canal.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My trip to the Panama Canal Zone, 2009</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_1186161347"></span><span id="goog_1186161348"></span><br />
<br />
In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors were well aware of the value of a canal across the isthmus-like features of Central of America; by 1853, the idea of a canal linking the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean via Central America was already alive and breathing. An attempt had already been made over twenty years earlier to build such a structure via Lake Nicaragua, and in 1849 a deal had been made by the nascent country of Nicaragua to make a second attempt over the next twenty-five years. A land transit route was made, and the US government was surveying Nicaraguan geography in preparation for the water route by the 1870s.<br />
<br />
However, throughout the 1800s Nicaragua was politically unstable, being disunited by geography and loyalties, as well as torn apart by the pull of colonial powers and businesses. It's president in the 1850s--William Walker--was an American who sought to develop and exploit Nicaragua's resources, while part of the Atlantic coast was claimed by the British Empire and wasn't ceded until nearer to the end of the century. By 1900, Nicaragua had some semblance of unity under President Jose Santos Zelaya--but within a decade rebellion was in full swing, with American military backing. Interest in a canal across Nicaragua, linking into Lake Nicaragua, seemed geographically feasible, but the division of the country and the strife that such divisions manifested left the idea beyond reality. Meanwhile, the United States took over French construction on the Panama Canal in 1904, and one thousand ships passed through it by the end of 1914.<br />
<br />
The prosperity brought by the Panama Canal seemed to signal a victory for the US, an end to the race for Caribbean economic hegemony and domination of maritime trade between the two hemispheres. History unfolds in surprising ways, as always, and looking back from 2014 to 1914 we see that Panama itself was ridden with strife, dictatorship, and eventually became independent of the United States and took control of its own canal and the political power it carries. The Panama Canal exists today as a neutral zone guaranteed by the American-Panamanian treaty of 1977, but neutrality is a benefit to some and a boon to others.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/world/2013/09/02/nicaragua_china_bet_40_billion_on_a_canal_to_rival_panama/wwnicaraguaxx.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/world/2013/09/02/nicaragua_china_bet_40_billion_on_a_canal_to_rival_panama/wwnicaraguaxx.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the Toronto Star, September 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
A monopoly on the convenient maritime transit between the Atlantic and the Pacific is enough on its own to birth competition--for Colombia, to the south, it is a rail route running east to west, and for Nicaragua it is the resurrection of its own canal ambitions. While Panama is seeking a $5 billion expansion of its 33.5 meter wide canal to better accommodate traffic, Nicaragua has a private Chinese investor looking to begin a $40 billion project in 2014 to build a more direct, deeper, and wider canal that has the potential to blow the Panama Canal out of the water, so to speak.<br />
<br />
The Nicaraguan government has given the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND) a 50 year contract for the project, with ports, railways, an oil pipeline, and airports as part of the planned development. Chinese entrepreneur Wang Jing is the man behind the project, and is prepared to face the challenge of the canal's development. Many of the challenges are unique to the 21st Century--environmental lobbies, American opposition to Chinese competition, and the diplomatic climate within Latin America. These sit beside the concept of American hegemony in general in the Caribbean region, as well as the threat of hurricanes an earthquakes along the proposed Nicaraguan route. However, the proposal is an attractive one to investors and clients alike, as it allows for transit of much larger modern ships, with an 800km reduction in travel distance between New York and California by ship, as opposed to the Panamanian route.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://assets2.motherboard.tv/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/de91a970c1a8b9fde94d337909aea8f9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://assets2.motherboard.tv/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/de91a970c1a8b9fde94d337909aea8f9.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Several of the proposed routes, with the river systems on the east side and Rivas on the western isthmus near Brito</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Cutting across around 190km of Nicaragua's land, joining with rivers, then cutting through the isthmus at Rivas on the Pacific side of the country, this canal would do more than just change the landscape of Panama. Most Nicaraguans are supportive of the plan, realizing that it would bring the potential for vast economic growth and advancement to the Western Hemisphere's second poorest country. The investment required for the project is more than three times the size of Nicaragua's GDP as it stands, and would lift the country out of poverty and leave it as one of the wealthiest--rather than almost the poorest--of all its neighbors.<br />
<br />
"This canal has been talked about for hundreds of years ... Spain wanted to build it five hundred years ago, but then the Panama Canal was built a hundred years ago. This time, in the 21st century, it was me who took the initiative," said Wang Jing in 2013. Nicaraguan President Manuel Ortega approved the project, and the Nicaraguan courts have affirmed its constitutionality--with construction planned for late 2014, the success of the project lies no longer in a gauge of its feasibility, but now in a the measure of its progress in coming years.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-11955936150513041212014-01-25T16:47:00.001-08:002014-01-25T16:47:48.264-08:00From Silk Road to Steel Road: The Trans-Asian Railway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130618161303-gateway-freight-train-chongqing-00000808-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130618161303-gateway-freight-train-chongqing-00000808-horizontal-gallery.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo From CNN.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A quick glance at the map, with both the modern era and centuries past in mind, is all it takes to confirm that the most flourishing cities of human civilization tend to gravitate toward coastlines and their seaports. Commercial success in places like Venice, New York, Lisbon, and Hong Kong were the result of a long history of maritime trade coupled with ideal geography. The world's hinterlands, whether deep in the North American Rockies, the Pampas, Patagonia, and high deserts of inner Argentina, or the sparsely populated interiors of Russia or Australia, are all areas that were only delicately penetrated by traders, pioneers, explorers, and any other harbingers of mass migration and expansion. The isolation of these lands from the coast, and the long journeys required on foot or meager vehicles, stood as obstacles in stark contrast to the swift travel on coastal and high seas as well as the introduction of canals that let ships come inland.<br />
<br />
In 1829, the steam engine was introduced, and from that year onward the world was transformed by the potential of railways to carry men and goods across vast expanses of land like never before. By 1900, the map of the world was greatly affected by the revolutionary relationship between rail, commerce, and empires. In 2014, new railroads still offer powerful possibilities for the peoples, governments, and economies of Central Asia that lie straddled between economic superpowers on the coasts. While the Silk Road once tied together trade from east to west, it is now a Steel Road that offers a new future through conflict ridden and downtrodden lands.<br />
<br />
The Trans-Siberian Railroad is well known term that symbolizes the very geography of Russia--stretching from east to west in a curious way that leaves it with one foot in Europe and one in Asia. However, the sprawling geography of Asia should not be oversimplified, as the Trans-Siberian railroad is also a sort of yardstick, along which can be measured a changing spectrum of culture, geography, and history from the Asian west to east. Additionally, the idea of such a west to east line draws attention away from the existence of porous states and societies running north to south, with less homogeneity between themselves than there may be across the Russified northern expanse called Siberia. Indeed, what lies to the south of Siberia is a myriad of cultures and states.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.transsib.ru/Photo/Bam/china60a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.transsib.ru/Photo/Bam/china60a.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Trans-Siberian Railroad - Photo from TransSib.ru</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Furthest west, in the Caucasus region, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan sit on the frontier of several regions, essentially a pivot point between Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Russia itself. Across the Caspian Sea, Turkic speaking peoples inhabit a variety of countries ending in "-stan", a Persian term denoting a place or land. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan are all former Soviet Republics which are enjoying a novel independence while sitting upon wealth of mineral resources, oil and gas, not to mention potential rail routes that could compete with the Russian hegemony to the north or sea routes to the south. The Persian legacy persists in Tajikistan as well as Iran itself, both rugged countries with abundant resources, the latter being a massive producer of oil and natural gas as well as a highly structured society that is a powerful exporter of culture and politics. Finally, Pakistan and Afghanistan serve as buffers, extensions, and wildlands between the economic hubs in Indian, China, Iran, and Russia, with their own potential in oil and minerals as well as trade routes.<br />
<br />
Adding Europe and even the Middle East to this list of economic hubs illustrates the concept of transporting goods and resources between them. In such a wild interior, only a handful of trade routes exist in the form of roads, pipelines, limited waterways, and railways. By the end of the 1990s, the void left by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states was being filled by resurgent economic growth as well as an influx of outside aid and investment into the Asian interior. the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) eventually developed a forward looking plan based off of dozens of individual studies for a Trans-Asian Railway (TAR), including concepts for both north-south and east-west networks.<br />
<br />
ESCAP determined a group of specific criteria for the railroad's routes and endpoints. These include "capital to capital links (for international transport) ... connections to main industrial and agricultural centres ... to major sea and river ports ... to major container terminals and depots". Much of the railway infrastructure exists already, but a map was produced showing a complete plan for the major east-west links after the gaps were filled in. Fundamentally, this map demonstrates a plan to offer maritime economies access into the Central Asian and Caspian region--with Iran, Russia, China, and all having independent links to the interior without sharing ports of entry. India, however, remains limited by its need to cross through Pakistan, an unstable neighbor, and by the limited development in Afghanistan leaving no rail links to the bustling economies further north. Europe as well is limited by access through the Ukraine, and hence Russia, or else through Turkey or the Black Sea region. Both of these are simple misfortunes of geography, as Afghanistan remains difficult to develop as well as unstable due to the rugged Hindu Kush range, while the division of Western Europe from Central Asia is due to desert, sea, or mountain barriers that foster instability in the Middle East and the Caucasus.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYShAnRryliTz_OpvjOQo02VRx6zGQsPSFm5v6fuvr3hzC12TolA9owqzfUedGXAoY8yOdzeuauv6hzv_Ywpkr38pQvf0kn9EPKJ0M7hSMjl81rxV-B2mhB5G32cjZBaIzgwh0-v1qlAc/s1600/tar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYShAnRryliTz_OpvjOQo02VRx6zGQsPSFm5v6fuvr3hzC12TolA9owqzfUedGXAoY8yOdzeuauv6hzv_Ywpkr38pQvf0kn9EPKJ0M7hSMjl81rxV-B2mhB5G32cjZBaIzgwh0-v1qlAc/s1600/tar.png" height="469" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From ESCAP's report on Development of the Trans-Asian Railway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The development of multiple railways will primarily benefit the Central Asian republics, giving them more direct control over who they sell and ship resources to, rather than having to exclusively export through Russia, China, Iran, or whichever neighbor offers the best transport. Mongolia, for example, benefits economically, but also has little say in its trade with China, as the Chinese government builds highways stretching up to the Mongolian border thus offering routes for mineral exports. Kazakhstan, with rich deposits of oil and gas in its west and minerals in the east, can find clients in every direction as it continues to develop. The key function of these new railways is to fill in the gaps in the interior, using specific routes through the high mountains of the continental interior. Railways can rarely support more then a four percent grade, thus making routes though rugged mountain ranges and foothills meticulous but possible. More limiting, however, is that freight trains are challenged beyond a one percent grade--thus, despite the open and empty wilderness of Central Asia, the new rail routes are still particularly few and undetermined.<br /><br />Rail development has particularly accelerated on a micro-level scale, and the remaining feat is to simply link existing networks. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan all require junctions to one another and hence increased access to China and Iran, while China itself would be connected overall to Europe by linking these networks. In the Caucasus region, Georgian and Azeri networks connecting to Turkey--and hence Europe--offer a way around dependence on the Russian rail networks, and can bring economic development to the poorer regions of Georgia and even Armenia. Iran, as well, would find better access to the Caucasus as a result of such development. Russian trade is what is truly at risk, as Russian has a long land border with resource-rich Central Asian countries rather than a plethora of seaports with access to maritime routes like Iran, India, and China do as they look to the south and the east.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrp6VB6T9tbvJROWSrhqBW0bAu9fHVRQ1bvJhaqpMDMoED71VTWkxGEAv4zJkVlz70iz_T6O5DXOZv6r3CYEW35P2K28aUOoToynavrnHJgfiEURyFcFTFZn-iNfEyIHcBb3Es-mUYpxuY/s1600/afghanrail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrp6VB6T9tbvJROWSrhqBW0bAu9fHVRQ1bvJhaqpMDMoED71VTWkxGEAv4zJkVlz70iz_T6O5DXOZv6r3CYEW35P2K28aUOoToynavrnHJgfiEURyFcFTFZn-iNfEyIHcBb3Es-mUYpxuY/s1600/afghanrail.png" height="296" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the Afghan Ministry of Public Works</td></tr>
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Curiously, the missing link lies in Afghanistan. The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has a chief goal of establishing stable Afghan self-governance and sovereignty, but this is less an economic goal than a moral one. The beneficiaries of such stability are those countries that would find railway access accompanying peace--countries like Iran, China, and India, who can access to Europe and one another via a potential rail link in Afghanistan. Thus, as the US considers the feasibility of stabilizing Afghanistan, these other countries are poised for economic intervention and participation despite their lack of military commitment. Current routes in Afghanistan stretch across the north from the Iranian border in the east, at Herat, to the Uzbek border in the north, and then from the Uzbek border across the east to the Pakistani border in the south.<br />
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These Afghan routes current support a small amount of trade, but require expansion to support anything of significant volume. While Chinese and Indian companies are beginning to extract copper and iron from large deposits found in Afghanistan, the funds to support a drastic railway construction project are still still difficult to come across. While Kazakhstan, with it's own sizable pools of natural resources, is able to generate its own funds as well as attract outside investment, Afghanistan struggles primarily due to the threat of government collapse and ongoing civil war. In theory, Afghanistan has much to offer as a crossroads as well as a source of mineral wealth, but in reality it is nothing more than a risky investment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the newest railway in Afghanistan - Photo by the American Embassy in Kabul</td></tr>
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<br /><br />The overall idea of rail development in Central Asia is paradox--while railways will bring about stability, wealth, and improved international and intercultural relations, the lack of those very things is what limits railroad expansion. In addition, geography, while conquerable, is a towering obstacle in the face of economic and human development. The mountains and culture of Central Asian are stalwart, and the connection of coastal powers through a taming of the interior may prove difficult in the decades to come just as it was ephemeral for empires of trade and ideology of the modern and ancient eras. As development continues in much of Central Asia, it is Afghanistan that has become--and will remain--the crucible of globalization on land.<br />
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-76156242002248641372014-01-07T22:08:00.000-08:002014-01-08T18:40:03.090-08:00The Seven Sister Cities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The concept of sister cities is meant to propagate an international sense of friendship, cooperation, and community. The idea was born in the years following the Second World War, and today has proliferated across the globe bringing together cities small and large. Most major Americans have a sister city, some due to economic ties, some due to cultural ties. For the avid traveler, these sister cities can be alluring destination both close to home and far, far away. While there are truly few places to which the adventurous should never travel, there are seven pairs of sister cities that serve as especially magnificent pairs of American cities and foreign counterparts for those in search of wonder and awe. These are them.<br />
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<b>1. Eugene, Oregon / Kathmandu, Nepal</b><br />
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While not Oregon's most famous city, Eugene is an outdoors paradise with a bit of flower child flair. With only a short drive west to the Oregon coast, and a short drive east to the Oregon Cascades, Eugene offers access to a plethora of adventure ranging from rafting to skiing to surfing--or good old beer drinking. A college town, Eugene is the birthplace of Nike, home to the University of Oregon, and a shining example of an outdoors paradise. It's sister city offers much of the same, but on a gargantuan scale. Kathmandu lies in a relatively low valley of Nepal, but offers unbeatable access to the world's most majestic mountains--the Himalaya. Within a day's travel are peaks as famous as Annapurna and Everest, as well as dozens more you've never heard of but don't want to miss. While not the microbrew rich, student inhabited mecca that Eugene may be, Kathmandu has a fascinating cultural appeal that drew those flower children just the same. As a bonus, you may want to try the Everest Beer ("It's Our Beer").<br />
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<b>2. Bellingham, Washington / Punta Arenas, Republic of Chile</b><br />
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Bellingham is no Seattle, just as Eugene is no Portland, but it is still a college town, a port city, and rests in the shadow of one of America's greatest peaks. Home to Western Washington University and the American Alpine Institute, Bellingham is only a short distance from the towering Mount Baker and the pristine wilderness of Skagit country and North Cascades National Park. Follow the North Cascades Highway east and watch civilization fade away while the peaks yawn toward the clouds. Mount Baker ski area holds the world record for the most annual snowfall at a ski resort, at a whopping ninety-five feet. The city is known for its history as a port as well as its connection to inland logging. A float on Bellingham Bay offers incredible mountain views of both the Cascades and the Olympics, while a further trip to the San Juan Islands is prime for whale watching. Meanwhile, just a few hairs away from the South Pole--in a rough estimate--Punta Arenas, Chile offers a similar atmosphere with a different cultural flare. Magellan's famous circumnavigation of the globe gives the Magellan Straight its name, and Punta Arenas lies right along his route. Chile's Antarctic region--as they claim in--looks to Punta Arenas as its capital, while Patagonia lies not far off either. The world famous Torres del Paine National Park, home of the magnificent Patagonian towers, is only a few hours away at most by land, sea, or air, offering the best access of any city in South America. A city that was once a capital for both shepherds and sailors, today it is simply an anomaly among ports for its positioning between some of the most wondrous spots in the world. Skiing, boating, cruises to Antarctica, visits to penguin colonies on Isla Magdalena, and a short voyage to the southernmost point of South America are all on the agenda for any visitor to this <i>portam australem.</i><br />
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<b>3. Juneau, Alaska / Vladivostok, Russian Federation</b><br />
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Welcome to the last frontier--a term that applies equally to the American state of Alaska or the far eastern Russian outpost of Vladivostok. Juneau is the main city on Alaska's marine highway, accessible by ship from far north and far south. A destination for ferries, cruise liners, and pontoon planes alike, Juneau offers a taste of what the greater mainland of Alaska has to offer. Kayaking, whale watching, skiing across the water at Eaglecrest, or excursions to the Mendenhall Glacier just thirteen miles out of town, there is little that the area can't use to lure the outdoors enthusiast to its shores. Cold and wet, it is still the warmest and most temperate of Alaska's main settlements. And not to be forgotten, Juneau is the home of the Alaskan Brewing Company, a familiar site in any beer aisle. Across the Pacific, Vladivostok is something even more remote and strange. In Russia's far east, it is no surprise that this city has both historical and modern connections with many cultures. It's climate is shared with China's Manchurian territory, and by sea Vladivostok is linked to Japan and South Korea. Vladivostok is the final stop of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and like Juneau offers a similar taste of what lies further into the hinterland. A historic center of Russian maritime trade and power, Vladivostok today is a replete with looming harbors, grand bridges, and enduring Soviet architecture. Around the city are more Russian islands, and access to desolate volcanic mountains that are a destination for explorers, heli-skiing, fishing, and adventuring into the unknown. And don't forget to sample the vodka--it is Russia, after all.<br />
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<b>4. Cody, Wyoming / Lanchkhuti, Georgian Republic</b><br />
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Cody, Wyoming, while perhaps a backwater town in the minds of many, has a strong connection to the echoing legacy of the culture of the American West. Buffalo Bill Cody was famous for his exploits out west, being a bison hunter and old fashioned cowboy. Later, Buffalo Bill would tour the world with his wild west shows, and be a central figure in the founding of his namesake town on the edge of Yellowstone National Park. Cody is still full of wild west spirit, while also a lesser known outdoor sports paradise. Heading west, any visitor will soon enter Yellowstone via the Fishing Bridge Entrance, after passing the South Fork area that is famous for its ice climbing--an fishing, of course. In the heart of grizzly bear country, and in the center of the historic American Indian country, Cody offers a powerful look into life past and present on the frontier. Enjoy a steak downtown, a snowmobile ride up past the Chief Joseph Highway, or a grand tour of the country's oldest national park. Meanwhile, Cody's sister city in the Caucasus has its own story. Lanchkhuti, Georgia is a small town in Georgia's western Guria province, situated at the base of the majestic Caucasus Mountains and alongside the Black Sea. While Yellowstone is a short trip from Cody, Lanchkhuti offers access to Kholketi National Park. Kholketi is known for its wetlands and rivers, as it lies in a coastal plain between sea and peaks. The Caucasus, and isolated towns such as Mestia, give this area a beautiful backdrop, while ancient structures permeate the landscape as relics of Georgia's fascinating but little known history as a link between Europe and Central Asia. Georgia, like Wyoming, lies on a frontier, as it is the last country of the European Union before the world becomes Asia, and hosts a culture that is more rugged and unchanged than its better known cohorts. Cody has its cabins and cowboys, and Lanchkhuti offers its own mountains, monasteries, and windswept vistas.<br />
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<b>5. Flagstaff, Arizona / Blue Mountains, Australia</b><br />
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Flagstaff, Arizona is not the typical image of Arizona, with flat desert and cactus. Instead, Flagstaff is a small city, host to Northern Arizona University, at nearly seven thousand feet--on the edge of the San Francisco Mountains and just a short jaunt from Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Rock formations are abound in this beautiful area, and outdoor sports such as rock climbing, mountain climbing, and even skiing at Arizona Snowbowl are easily enjoyed. Several naturally formed nationally monuments are nearby, such as Wakputi, Walnut Canyon, Natural Bridges, and Sunset Crater. The famous Route 66 also runs through Flagstaff, and into the desert further east. Blue Mountains, Australia parallels Flagstaff with it's own rock formations and scenic vistas. Impenetrable to early European explorers, the Blue Mountains region was home to many aboriginal Australians, and today still pays homage to their legacy. Several towns lie within the Blue Mountains, and Blue Mountains National Park generally defines the whole area. A short distance from Sydney, Blue Mountains offers a complete change from the coastal scenery of Australia's best known metropolis and remarkable natural beauty for anywhere in the world. Blue Mountains features some of the most extreme rock climbing in Australia, while also offering the casual hiker a run for her money. Canyoning is also popular, and is an activity offered by many guide companies in the area. While not as remote as the Outback and far off Australian destinations such as Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, Blue Mountains is sure to offer a rush of an outdoors experience to any visitor n Australia.<br />
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<b>6. Snowbird, Utah / Zermatt, Switzerland</b><br />
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Utah hosts some of the best skiing in North America; Switzerland some of the best skiing in Europe. Between Snowbird and Zermatt, one can thus find the pinnacle of skiing worldwide. Snowbird shares a small valley with the town of Alta, Utah, and since its settlement in the late 1800s has grown from a mining destination to one of the best powder spots on the continent. Trailing only Mount Baker, Washington, Snowbird benefits from the climactic effects of the Great Salt Lake, as well as the magnificent access to its slopes from Salt Lake City, less than thirty miles away. Glorious in every season for the hiker, climber, skier, and sightseer, Snowbird boasts granite peaks and fluffy snow that backs the "Ski Utah!" motto seen on many a license plate. Relying mainly on skiing itself for industry--not tourism or real estate--Snowbird is less resort than it is simply peaks and slope. This mountain town offers a true taste of Rocky Mountain shredding, and despite the snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and other sports that may fit into its image, skiing is the true theme here. Zermatt offers nothing less, if not more. A town almost completely void of cars, Zermatt is situated below the world famous Matterhorn, one of the most difficult and last peaks to be climbed in Europe. Monte Rosa, Switzerland's highest summit, is also close by. Furthermore, most of the Alps' highest peaks lie in the area surrounding Zermatt's Matter Valley, making it no surprise that this is the mountaineering capital of Europe. But even if you aren't a skier or mountaineer, Zermatt is a top notch destination for camping, hiking, and even sampling Swiss cuisine like fondue and rabbit fillet. Not far from the Italian border and its own quaint alpine villages, Zermatt is a true world destination and offers more beauty than you can bargain for, without a doubt.<br />
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<b>7. Boulder, Colorado / Lhasa, Tibet, People's Republic of China</b><br />
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The final two sister cities on the list are both well known and yet exist in completely different atmospheres. Boulder, Colorado, just outside Denver, is an outdoors Mecca, a full spectrum college town, and is host to a very liberal society. Lhasa, Tibet has been shackled and subdued by decades of Chinese occupation, and despite such a totalitarian setting is still the home of a world famous religious movement--Tibetan Buddhism--and the site of breathtaking scenery and architecture on one of the world's highest plateaus. Boulder is home to many Tibetan refugees and immigrants, as is obvious quickly on a stroll through the city. Juxtaposed with this cultural variety is the University of Colorado and the Boulder counterculture that makes it famous. Set in the forefront of the Coloradoo Flatirons and the Front Range, Boulder is a young city--younger than the national average in the US--and a bustling one, with both culture and business burgeoning. With now-legal Colorado mairjuana, not much has changed in Boulder, but what is important is what stays the same. The music scene, the outdoors sports, the artistic community, and a people-friendly town that offers almost sixty percent of its space as open to the public. Lhasa, meanwhile, has much that also remains the same despite a rough history. It's famous monuments such as the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace are as stunning now as they must have been over the centuries. Trekking is the name of the game, and mountaineering offers the daring some exhilarating ascents on some of Asia's higher peaks. Tea, incense, monasteries, and raw Tibetan culture are all as integral to the experience as the Chinese grip on the region, while the history offers insight into how much has changed in the people despite the steadfast scenery. Accessible through tours and a tricky visa from either Nepal or major cities of China, Lhasa offers far more than the trouble to get there may take away--and is even home to the "beer from the roof of the world", Lhasa Beer. Indeed, there is something for everyone, whether it is the beer drinker, the alpinist, or the seeker.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-12703110881105492622013-12-25T17:20:00.000-08:002013-12-25T17:40:41.698-08:00In Search of Summits - The Enigmatic History of Inca Mountaineering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/a-victorious-inca-emperor-and-his-army-ned-m-seidler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/a-victorious-inca-emperor-and-his-army-ned-m-seidler.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">(painting by Ned M. Seidler)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
By the 1860s, European exploration of the Himalaya had resulted in dozens of successful summit attempts of peaks over 20,000 feet. These expeditions went into the history books as world records for the highest points ever reached by man, but the audience for such stories lay mostly in European and American society, and the colonies that were their extensions. While history is not only written by the victors, however, it is also enduring only for those who manage to write it down to begin with. Over three centuries before these mighty Himalayan ascents, another civilization was reaching for the highest points on their continent--but while mountaineering was alive and well, writing was an alien concept. The Inca Empire, spanning the length of the Andes, occupied not just the east, west, north, and south of this region--but the span of its vertical as well. The Incas had reached the summit of sixteen major Andean peaks by the 1500s, and may very well have reached the top of South America's highest summit on Aconcagua.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIPzjI4-5UHcDWkbpDYr02ZVVPo-_1zFNrtvSGaOfnUDovkKlqR8JGF2-tkdHowN6SBwzJ6F05h7YK8iYLXEzzPmk-hTa1pr0AjcSch82JghBrxTsz-JoD-shfKibMj9KN5DqFk1FriyT/s1600/andeanvolcanoes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIPzjI4-5UHcDWkbpDYr02ZVVPo-_1zFNrtvSGaOfnUDovkKlqR8JGF2-tkdHowN6SBwzJ6F05h7YK8iYLXEzzPmk-hTa1pr0AjcSch82JghBrxTsz-JoD-shfKibMj9KN5DqFk1FriyT/s320/andeanvolcanoes.png" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the chain of Andean volcanoes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The discovery of an Inca mummy at just over 17,000 feet, on one of the ridges leading to the summit of Aconcagua, is what most strongly suggests their ascent. Additionally, stone structures and archaeological sites have been discovered at around 20,000 feet in dozens of cases, occurring mostly in the chain of Andean volcanoes that runs along the Chilean and Argentine borders above the high and barren deserts, and into Bolivia and Peru. As far north as Ecuador, these structures exist at up to 16,000 feet. Any Inca records of activity at these altitudes are either non-existent or locked in another mystery of the vanquished civilization--the Inca quipu.<br />
<br />
The quipu is a system of complex knots created by the Incas, originally thought to be used for numerical purposes. The quipu seems to used a seven bit binary system, similar to modern computers using a ten bit system in order to display data. The quipu numbers varied depending on the size of the knot, the color, the spacing between knots, and then a continuation of these knots on several cords. More recent analysis of the quipu, however, suggests that it may have been used to carry more than just purely numerical information. Once more like the modern use of base ten binary systems to carry computer data, the base seven quipu could have been a system of recording stories and records. One estimate suggests that the quipu provided up to 1,500 individual symbols which could be used to construct a form of written records in numerical code--a number that is comparable to Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/images/quipu_amnh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://www.ancientscripts.com/images/quipu_amnh.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inca quipu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The link between Inca mountaineering and the Inca quipu lies in the possibility of recorded ascents, burials, ceremonies, or other activities at altitude. This link remains, empirically, a fantasy, because despite what is known about the numerical workings of the Inca quipu, there is no existing way to infer any linguistic meaning from their code. In essence, the missing piece is an Inca "Rosetta Stone" that will open up access to Inca records in the same way that the original Rosetta Stone gave scholars a way to finally translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. The fantasy goes even further in assuming that such an artifact could even exist, as it remains debatable whether or not the quipu actually was used for linguistic purposes rather than as a strictly mathematical tool.<br />
<br />
Known records of Incas at these heights are only second hand. The Inca shrines and tombs in the Andes were of a religious origin, and with the collapse of the empire were prime destinations for grave robbers, who recorded nothing of the locations or altitudes. The final use of structures at extreme elevation may have been for security purposes, as the Incas established watch towers in response to Spanish invasion. After the Incas abandoned their structures and began to vanish, these heights would not be reached for several more centuries, when European mountaineers would arrive in the Andes and discover these archaeological sites haphazardly while conducting Himalaya style expeditions. In 1983, anthropologist Johan Reinhard discovered several of these ruins, from Ecuador to Chile and in between. His research has revealed much of what is known, or theorized at best, of the Inca relationship with mountain summits.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9q0Bq8FFfBi3RF7HSPWKu2ijmBpx0SWJJDJ1tCexMcCGwcDpXLj1gCwepHCh3-OSAq3O94L3BV_1IMfvM9K3n6qeXxCBbMwTzqS64NhXBsw9Ul_ZPtVBALsw8pxpuWq_OQYcTZr5rac2/s1600/llullaillaco.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9q0Bq8FFfBi3RF7HSPWKu2ijmBpx0SWJJDJ1tCexMcCGwcDpXLj1gCwepHCh3-OSAq3O94L3BV_1IMfvM9K3n6qeXxCBbMwTzqS64NhXBsw9Ul_ZPtVBALsw8pxpuWq_OQYcTZr5rac2/s640/llullaillaco.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; text-align: center;">The American Alpine Journal, 1983</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
In the 20th Century, further progress was made in uncovering what archaeological sites survived the pillaging of grave robbers and fortune seekers. Stone walls, mummies, gold, silver, and other Inca artifacts continued to be uncovered. In 1950, the body of a guanaco--a pack animal related to the llama--was discovered on the ridge connecting the highest and lowest points of Aconcagua's summit. While nothing further has developed, this anomaly also suggests ambitious Inca ascents. The FitzGerald expedition of 1897 found that the route up Aconcagua was rather devoid of technical difficulty, while the wind and weather remained a more intimidating obstacle. While little is known of Inca technology or methodology related to mountain climbing, the lack of technical challenge on such peaks indicates an ease of access for highland natives of the Inca Empire. In addition, the Inca proficiency for knots in both the quipu system and complex rope bridges may suggest a use of knots for climbing purposes.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Inca_roads-en.svg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Inca_roads-en.svg" width="364" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; text-align: center;">The Inca road network</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Inca Empire at its height stretched from Quito, Ecuador to Santiago, Chile and slightly beyond--the distance from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. The road network running from north to south skirted the mountains, and covered about 25,000 miles altogether, with many offshoot roads that crossed the Andes at heights of up to 16,000 feet. While the empire itself covered a variety of climate zones--from coastal plains to high desert to rain forest to alpine forests--the Incas were undoubtedly a culture that had developed and adapted in high altitudes. They were able to not only traverse across the Andes, but also maintained political and economic rule on both sides of the longest mountain range in the world.<br />
<br />
The question still remains, however--why set out for the summits of these majestic peaks? The mystery's answer is nowhere to be found in historical records. For Europeans, alpinism was a matter of national pride as well as sport. Meanwhile, natives of the Himalaya tended to keep away from the summits, seeing them as the resting places of mountain deities and thus to be avoided out of respect and fear. For the Incas, it appears to have been a mixture of pride and religion that drove them <i>to</i> the summits, rather than away. To this day, there are many villages throughout the southern Andes inhabited by speakers of Quechua and other languages that existed within the Inca Empire. The local religious traditions here, while sometimes given a Christian flavor, seem to be fundamentally unchanged over the last 500 years--thus dating back to the time of the Inca Empire and its ascents.<br />
<br />
These villages worshiped, and still do worship, the high peaks around them--they are mountain gods, either representing the highest deities or intermediaries of such deities. The primary reason for the villagers' worship was to influence the fertility of crops and livestock, the resources that they depended on to survive in the valleys below. The Incas came to these regions as conquerors, already crossing over the Andes in their campaigns of expansion, and established dominance in the political, religious, and economic spheres. In a sense, the economy--being agriculture and husbandry--as well as politics were both rooted in religion. Thus establishing their superior relationship with the local gods, the Incas may have climbed to these high summits, making first ascents in a show of power.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dare7summits.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Aconcagua-diagram-2-www.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="http://dare7summits.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Aconcagua-diagram-2-www.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aconcagua, with Camp II at 17,500 feet--close to the minimum altitude reached by Incas.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Inca Empire still remains shrouded in mystery, and yet impressive for what possibilities it leaves to the modern imagination. The civilization's history may be locked away in an indecipherable binary code, giving us only the most educated guesses about the extent and capabilities of these early mountaineers. All possibilities aside, it is certain that Incas were reaching summits of over 20,000 feet up to 400 years before their European counterparts, and all that can be done is to retrace their footsteps and wonder at their determination.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-78702347419391584352013-05-29T00:54:00.000-07:002013-08-26T14:28:02.305-07:00Silent Stones of the North<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/127/cache/inukshuk-marker-pangnirtung_12788_600x450.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/127/cache/inukshuk-marker-pangnirtung_12788_600x450.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(National Geographic)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Before 2010, it was an image that few of us found
familiar--stones stacked in a seemingly hasty, haphazard method in
imitation of human form. Then came the Winter Olympics of 2010, hosted
by Canada's third-largest city, Vancouver. The well-known Olympic logo
was displayed beside what has become an increasingly prevalent symbol of
Canada, in a nod to its indigenous cultures--the very same human-like
stack of stones.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID36310/images/Winter_Olympic_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID36310/images/Winter_Olympic_Logo.jpg" width="172" /></a> This symbol could be called by two names. One is the <i>inuksuk</i>, the proper Inuit name for a traditional stone cairn. The other is <i>inunnguaq, </i>the
name given to the very same structures that are void of any cultural
significance. The Olympic logo that proliferated in 2010 was the latter,
as it was an adoption of the image by greater Canadian society--a copy
that lacked the spiritual and cultural investment placed in similar
cairns that have stood in the Arctic regions of Canada, Alaska, and
Greenland for thousands of years.<br />
<br />
The literal meaning of the word <i>inuksuk</i>
is "substitute for a person", also translated as the image of man, or
something serving the function of a human. Another translation is
simply "beacon", while it may also be thought of as a sort of messenger,
expressing some thought or intention that originated with a human and
has been left in stone for another to find. The official Inuktitut
dictionary--a collection of the Inuit language--defines it with more
detail: "traditional stone beacon usually made of piled stones on some
prominent point or hill as a guide to travelers and hunters or to give
other information about game or directions."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/archeo/inuksuit/images/inukp03b.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/archeo/inuksuit/images/inukp03b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Canadian Museum of Civilization)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Not to be overlooked, however, is the spiritual nature of the <i>inukshuit</i>, which is especially absent in <i>inunnguat</i> (the plurals of <i>inuksuk </i>and <i>inunnguaq</i>,
respectively). Knud Rasmussen, Danish polar explorer, described a tale
from the Inuits that told the origin of several of their <i>inukshuit</i>.
These particular ones had been erected after several Inuit women had
drowned in the sea, having been carried away by an island of ice that
split away from shore. The Inuit men, who had been away hunting, built <i>inukshuit</i>
along the shore to mourn the deaths, but also in the belief that they
would anchor the women's souls back onto dry land, a better place for
them to rest than lost at sea.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/archeo/inuksuit/images/inukp15b.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/archeo/inuksuit/images/inukp15b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Canadian Museum of Civilization)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The <i>inukshuit</i>
were used to mark migration routes for caribou herders, places of
slaughter, places of worship or rites, and grave sites. Some of them
were seen as carrying good fortune, while others, like scarecrows, were
meant to discourage approach--warning the Inuits to stay away from
places of bad fortune or perceived evil.<br />
<br />
Fundamentally, the <i>inukshuit</i>
served as mediums between the people and the land. The stones, always
unfinished, still demonstrated man's methods of shaping the landscape,
giving form and meaning to the rawness of nature.<br />
<br />
Like Stonehenge or the monuments of Easter Island, the <i>inukshuit</i>
have been mysterious to outsiders, and much of their meaning has been
forgotten--yet just the same, they still stand watch over the frozen
landscape of the north, relics of civilization with equivalent relevance
to the cathedrals of Europe, Mesopotamian ziggurats, or the Buddhist
stupas.With the more and more common appearance of the<i> inunnguaq</i> as a popular symbol in Canada, the significance of the <i>inuksuk</i> is also returning from the shadows of indigenous memory.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/xmlYjSH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="524" src="http://i.imgur.com/xmlYjSH.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of <i>inukshuit</i> sites on Baffin Island, Canada<br />
(tukilik.ca)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
There
is much more to be learned about these ancient relics, as well as the
modern people that cherish them. For further insight, take a peek at the
project to map the <i>inukshuit</i> locations throughout the Arctic over at the <a href="http://www.tukilik.ca/en/index.php?sv=&category=Projects%7EResearch%20Maps" target="_blank">Tukilik Foundation.</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-60962420168855753472013-03-24T12:44:00.001-07:002013-03-24T19:09:53.037-07:00Rhodesian Tracking and the Selous Scouts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/RhodesiaAllies1975.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/RhodesiaAllies1975.png" ssa="true" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhodesia, 1975.<br />
(Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
Ranging from the 1960s all the way to 1980, the Rhodesian Bush War was a tumultuous period of African history that marked one of the last transitions of white, colonial Africa into the modern group of majority ruled states today. By 1980, the British Empire had relinquished its grip on its colonies, handing the governments over to the native and historic populations. Rhodesia was an anomaly, however, as it followed a path that echoes the history of both American and Israeli statehood. While the British government insisted that Rhodesia make a constitutional handover of power to native blacks, the white ruling minority there declared independence from British rule and attempted to establish itself as a permanent state in southern Africa. While the thirteen colonies fought the British, and while British Palestine saw a violent but rapid transformation into the state of Israel, Rhodesia found itself under much harsh international criticism and in addition fought a long and lonely war against Marxist insurgent organizations such as ZIPRA and ZANLA, the latter of which would eventually establish the state of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.</div>
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<br /></div>
The politics of Rhodesia remain controversial to this day, as they gave Rhodesia a disadvantage despite tactical superiority. While Rhodesia eventually dissolved and left white Rhodesians scattered throughout the English-speaking world, feeling exiled, the tactical lessons from such units as the Rhodesian African Rifles, the Rhodesian Light Infantry, and the Selous Scouts remain relevant well into the 21st Century.<br />
<br />
Much of what the Rhodesian military did to combat insugency was influenced by Portuguese methods in their colonies of Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola. Where Portugal failed due to a reliance on more convential equipment and strategy, Rhodesia was able to succeed. In addition, the Rhodesians modeled much of their doctrine and structure off of the British Army, a natural approach considering many Rhodesians had served under the British crown and had special experience fighting insurgency in Malaysia. Finally, the South African Border War in Namibia and Angola also led to shared strategies against a similar enemy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/YP-YND.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/YP-YND.JPG" ssa="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Rhodesian passenger airliner--many of which were attacked by deadly insurgent surface to air weapons in the 1970s. <br />
(Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Indeed, much of what Rhodesia did is considered ruthless in a modern context, and can hardly be adapted by NATO troops in Afghanistan--essentially the use of guerilla tactics without regard to many often-precarious intricacies of the international laws of war. Nonetheless, many details of Rhodesian tactics are especially noteworthy, and one of the most important lessons to learn from the Rhodesian Bush War is the importance of tracking in combat operations.<br />
<br />
Rhodesia itself was named after Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman who founded the African territory that was later named for him. Rhodes was also the founder of De Beers diamond company, and the well known Rhodes Scolarship. Rhodes was integral to the British establishment of commercial and political dominance in central and southern Africa, and to some is considered the equivalent of George Washington to white Africans who lived--and still live--in Africa. For many black Africans, his name is much more malignant. One of Rhodesia's most elite military units, the Selous Scouts, was also named for a famous Briton who lived in Africa--Frederick Selous, an explorer with political clout on line with Theodore Roosevelt and Cecil Rhodes himself. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png/300px-Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png/300px-Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png" ssa="true" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>The Rhodes Colossus</em>, an editorial cartoon satirizing British ambitions from Cairo to Capetown.<br />
(Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
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The Selous Scouts were one of many special warfare units established as a response to increasing rural, low-intensity conflict. In addition, they were established under constraint of low budgets and scarce materiel, in stark contrast to the well supplied and thoroughly funded special operations forces of the modern American, British, and other militaries of today. The Rhodesians proved that they could operate effectively in these conditions, in many ways having less manpower and similar resources to the insurgents that launched cross border raids from outside Rhodesia.<br />
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The tracking itself featured many remarkable traits. Rhodesian trackers, unlike those they tracked, wore shorts and tennis shoes--a uniform that seems hardly practical for combat in the African jungle. However, this gave them two distinct advantages. The first advantage was that they were not as easy to track as their enemy was, as tennis shoes, being lighter and having less intense tread, left a far more vague mark on the ground, and thus were less visable to enemy trackers. The shorts, meanwhile, instilled a habit of avoiding close contact with vegetation that could cause scrapes, rashes, and would otherwise produce noise and signs of movement. By avoiding vegetation, these trackers were also more difficult to follow as they did not leave the more recognizable trails that combatants wearing pants would leave as they trudged less cautiously through the countryside.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhodesian trackers in training.<br />
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The Selous Scouts, being the primary group of trackers, also followed two effective patterns of organization. One was a nearly four to one ratio of native black scouts to whites, allowing for more local insight into their tracking and movement. Many of these black scouts were supporters of the majority white Rhodesian government; others were captured insurgents who had been turned, whether against black nationalism or against the Marxist ideology that was propogated by Soviet and Chinese backers of ZANLA and ZIPRA, respectively. The second organizational pattern was the use of three teams for a single tracking operation--one as the primary trackers, moving less swiftly and using a more thorough method of investigation; another as an advance party, moving ahead on the trail less focused on following each and every sign of movement and more focused on establishing visual contact with the insurgents they tracked; and a third as a rear party that would move backwards on their own trail, hoping to encounter and disrupt any insurgent force that doubled back hoping to ambush the trackers. Each of these teams usually consisted of four highly experienced men. <br />
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The Selous Scouts underwent intensive training, much of it, admitted their primary organizer, Major Reid-Daly, in a prison camp type environment meant to push soldiers to their mental and physical limits and thus force them to find deep self-sufficiency and endurance. This is an approach that is still central to training such units as the US Army Rangers and the British Royal Marines--week after week of hell that tests how far one can go without comfort and recovery. A very low percentage of volunteers finally made it into the ranks of the Selous Scouts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.rhodesia.nl/scouts1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.rhodesia.nl/scouts1.jpg" ssa="true" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selous Scouts in action.<br />
(rhodesia.nl)</td></tr>
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Beyond this sort of physical and mental endurance training, scouts were trained on a more academic level, as well. Botanists instructed the trackers on how to utilize the local flora in recognizing signs of movement and occupation, as well as how to survive and sustain themselves off of plants for food. Furthermore, these men often communicated using a dog whistle as a signal--a whistle producing a sound that is almost inaudible to the human ear, and thus goes unnoticed to anyone not trained to listen for it. In a way, this is a primitive and clever precursor to the modern use of infrared lights and lasers, which can only be seen by a modern force equipped with infrared vision. While today's elite units may train lasers and lights on the enemy and their positions, making obvious signals that are invisible to the enemy, the Rhodesian scouts were making long reaching audio signals that the enemy was simply oblivious to despite hearing it vaguely.</div>
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The Selous Scouts played an integral role in countering insurgent infiltration, as they stopped much movement before enemy parties were able to cross into Rhodesia from Zambia or Mozambique. They also were able to prevent insurgent psychological warfare from being effective, most importantly by hunting mine-laying teams. These teams were notorious for placing land mines on important commercial and strategic roads in Rhodesia, and often going as far as placing mines in Rhodesian national parks and nature reserves where they were intended to detonate near tourists, successfully instilling fear in the populace and undermining civil support for an ongoing war--a very highly regarded tactic among insurgents that esssentially defines the term <em>terrorism</em>.</div>
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Today, tracking is a skill that is severely under-used in combat operations. While many elite units may have some understanding of tracking, the average infantry soldier is ill-equipped with the knowledge to recognize subtle signs of enemy movement, nor the placements of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that see a parallel use to the mines laid on Rhodesian roads. Writer Michael Yon, a veteran of US Special Forces as well as independent combat journalism, has insisted in recent years that a basic approach to tracking and ground sign awareness needs to be re-introduced in the modern infantry. He has participated in tracking training in Norway, and recommends other sources of learning it such as in South Africa.<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wolf-pack-101-introduction-to-combat-tracking.htm" target="_blank"> Michael's dispatches provide a valuable insight</a> into the importance of this skill, and only serve to emphasize the lessons that can be learned from the success of Rhodesia and the Selous Scouts in their age old war of counterinsurgency. </div>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-37775194326405421642013-03-13T19:21:00.003-07:002013-03-14T20:38:54.539-07:00The Krio Language - It's Not English<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Blood Diamond</i>, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is more than just a great film--it is also a great example of African accents, especially a demonstrated by DiCaprio's character, Danny Archer. Archer was born in Rhodesia--modern day Zimbabwe. His accent, however, is South African, and has been praised for being right on the mark. That accent aside, another one surfaces in the film for a short time, a sort of pidgin English known as Krio. Krio is mainly used in Sierra Leone,and DiCaprio demonstrates it in the clip below:<br />
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Notice how the words all seem to be English, but the grammar is less than stellar and the accent itself is almost what one would expect of a Jamaican. The accent, however, is really just an African one--in this case influenced mostly by the Yoruba language. The words, mostly English, although some are from other African languages as well as French, were adopted as a result of African interaction with English-speakers through either slavery abroad, followed by repatriation generations later, or British colonization in West Africa.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sierra Leone's location in Africa<br />
worldatlas.com</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Sierra Leone is one of several small states in West Africa, and much of its population are descendents of slaves who were freed and returned to Africa--their own ancestors having been shipped across the sea generations before. It also is home to several different ethnic groups, whose history of conflict has left a scar on the country's history. The multitude of languages in Sierra Leone is another aspect of its many ethnic groups, and the difference between the languages has called for a common tongue to fill the gap--this is where Krio comes in.<br />
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According to visitsierraleone.org, Krio is now the most widely used language in Sierra Leone. As seen in the video, many of these words are variations on English words: a sink is <i>besin</i>, from wash basin; a trash can is <i>doti box</i>, from dirty box; food is <i>it</i>, like eat; and beard is biabia. Other words are less recognizable, if at all.<br />
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" 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" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Translating Krio to English<br />
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/krio.html</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What is most interesting, however, is that this is not just a dialect of
English--it has its own system of grammar and syntax. It is used as a second language for speakers of different local languages. The Peace
Corps even issues a language manual for English speaking volunteers to
learn Krio, rather than encouraging them to simply get by on English.
Indeed, it is an offshoot of English that has developed over centuries,
and continues to do so.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The English language has long served as a sort of global <i>lingua franca</i>, as it is arguably the best language to know if you're trying to communicate in societies around the world whose first language you don't speak. The emergence of offshoots such as Krio is hardly surprising, nor is it an anomaly.<br />
<br />
Beyond Sierra Leone, English has been molded in India, Louisiana, Hawaii, and elsewhere--all as a result of non-native speakers using the language among themselves. As English continues to find universal relevance with the growing reach of the internet, it will not be surprising to see it be molded and repackaged more and more often, resulting in unique offspring like Krio.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-59870298674848689342013-02-23T17:07:00.000-08:002013-02-23T17:20:04.669-08:00The Maltese Tongue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//thumb/e/e0/Malta_Regions_map.png/766px-Malta_Regions_map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//thumb/e/e0/Malta_Regions_map.png/766px-Malta_Regions_map.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A survey of major languages throughout the world leaves little doubt about the grand and always growing overlap between vocabularies. English words are entering the lexicon of nearly every nation, with words like <i>computer</i>, <i>internet</i>, and <i>mobile</i>. The word <i>coffee</i> is found in variations, from <i>cafe</i> in Spanish to <i>qahua</i> in Arabic (the <i>q </i>is silent if you're in Lebanon). Likewise, the word <i>chai</i>, meaning tea, is used in Indian languages, in Arabic, and now is assigned to a certain variety of spiced tea enjoyed in the West. Indeed, English itself is a mash-up of a language, with a massive vocabulary taken from French, a strikingly similar syntax to Nordic languages, and many of the harsh sounds of German.<br />
<br />
However, as these major tongues endure through history and find usage among great population, many lesser-known tongues find themselves caught in the middle, borrowing in the past from other languages in a far more ambitious manner. Many of these are creole languages, pidgin languages, and others that are a result of simple or complex syntheses.<br />
<br />
One of the most unique in all of Europe, however, is the Maltese language. It is the only Semitic language recognized as an official language of the European Union--other Semetic languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic, are only in official use in the Middle East, whether in governments or churches. Maltese therefore has the same structure of sentences as Arabic, although it is written in Latin script. The original language itself is a result of historic ties with North Africa, where Arabic has been the dominant language for over a millennium. The changes in the language, including the Latin script and new vocabulary words, are from a cultural shift towards Europe, as well as being under the rule of medieval Christian Europe and the British Empire.<br />
<br />
Maltese words use a sort of template system, where three letters such as <i>k</i>, <i>t</i>, and <i>b</i>, when put together in that order, have a general area of meaning, while variations of use of those three letters, still in that order, have related meanings. For example,<i> ktb</i> in both Maltese and in Arabic (written <span lang="ar">کتب</span><span lang="ar"></span>) have to do with writing, whereas <i>kteib </i>in Maltese and <i>kitab</i> in Arabic mean <i>book</i>, and <i>kittieb</i> in Maltese and <i>kaatib</i> in Arabic mean <i>writer.</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ep-webeditors.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Valletta-Maltese_road_sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://www.ep-webeditors.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Valletta-Maltese_road_sign.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Maltese sign--read it aloud and notice the Italian sorts of sounds, and the Arabic ones.<br />
(ep-webeditors.eu)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>This is where the divide begins, however. In Arabic, the word for <i>library</i>, being related to books,<i> </i>is <i>maktaba</i>. In Maltese, it is librerija--probably from English as a result of British rule from 1814 to 1964. While the Arabic word for <i>peace</i> is <i>salam,</i> the Maltese borrow from Italian, saying <i><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="mt"><span class="hps">paċi </span></span></i><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="mt"><span class="hps">(the dot above the <i>c </i>indicating a <i>ch</i> sound).</span></span><br />
<br />
The Maltese word for <i>blossom</i> is <i>zahar</i>, from Arabic meaning <i>flower</i>, which was carried into Sicilian language. It becomes easily evident that Malta was a transit point for languages, as Arabic words came from the south, Sicilian and Italian words came from the north, and both entered Maltese language before moving on.<br />
<br />
Italian was the dominant language during the medieval reign of the Knights of Malta, and Sicilian carried over, like Arabic, from simply proximity. All four languages--Arabic, Italian, Sicilian, and English--were also likely very heavily used in Maltese ports as Mediterranean maritime trade thrived in the 1600s and onward. The result is, metaphorically speaking, something like taking a house of Arabic design, and filling it with English furniture, Italian paintings, and Sicilian food<i>--</i>then calling it Maltese.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/images/ports/hero/MLA_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/images/ports/hero/MLA_01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You should also take note that Malta is a prime place for a summer vacation--beaches, sunshine, ports, and palm trees!<br />
(royalcaribbean.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Malta is a recognizable name, whether because of the historical and religious significance of the Knights of Malta--now the Sovereign Military Order of Malta--or because of the famous Humphrey Bogart film <i>The Maltese Falcon</i>, or perhaps you have heard of a town named after it, like Malta, Montana. Now, however, you may know a little more about Malta, what cultures have influenced it and where to find it on a map--right between Tunisia and Sicily, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.<br />
<br />
Look forward to more language-oriented posts, especially on creole and pidgin languages, and others of unique origin.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-84813477434612187912012-10-25T02:00:00.001-07:002012-10-25T02:00:15.135-07:00Iran and Hezbollah: A Global Reach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I wrote a piece about a year and a half ago concerning Iran's ability to cause chaos around the globe--not as a form of preemptive aggression, but primarily along the lines of the proverbial "blowback" that many in politics and the military are talking about today. This seems very relevant given the resurgence of the absurd Iran question, wondering if we should unwisely declare war (or attack anyway, given that we don't tend to ask Congress for authorization these days).<br />
<br />
Iran has at least potential access to a worldwide Hezbollah network, although it is very possible that this network is not some single organization as much as it is a disconnected collection of isolated cells who are willing to work with Iran and its agents if approached.<br />
<br />
These networks exist in Southeast Asia, in Africa, in Europe, South America, and without much doubt even in North America. Is it the equivalent of the global spy networks of the US or the Soviet Union during the cold war? Not at all. But such cells have shown in recent history that they have the power to cause dramatic damage in small increments, banking on the fact that the death of innocents is always a tragedy. Below is an excerpt, or <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7sc20AcMLAYdFJVaEZaQWJhcVk" target="_blank">read the full version here</a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><i> Of
all products exported from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the ideology
of the Islamic Revolution carries the regime's pride and weight.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, serves as a
separate apparatus from the Iranian national army, used specially to
enforce the principles of Khomeini’s revolutionary philosophy. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> While the IRGC domestically ensures the continuity of the revolution,
it also serves a foreign purpose. Thus, in exploring the complete
role of the IRGC, it is necessary to first consider Iran’s foreign
policy goals for the Middle East region as well as in the global
sense—the reason for such an understanding of Iranian intentions
being that the IRGC is used as a tool to enforce the revolution as
much in the extraterritorial sense as it is in the domestic sense. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> As the US is to some extent leading the charge in attempts to isolate
Iran both diplomatically and economically, Iran is countering such
efforts with the unusual—by finding both unusual allies and unusual
approaches to gaining influence and support abroad. Iran’s foreign policy involves a broad array of economic,
political, religious, and military efforts, but one of the
overarching and most consequential policies is that of the relentless
exportation of the Islamic Revolution to other Muslim countries and
areas—particularly those of the Shia—as well as allowing it to
take root in countries far away from the Muslim world. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> Close to home,
Iran’s goals can be described as ones centered on creating
instability, especially in the Arab countries, where it aims to
interfere in internal affairs and encourages the exchange of less
cooperative regimes with ones friendlier to the revolutionary
ideals.</i></blockquote>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-37753519597118587582012-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:002012-10-16T09:11:56.624-07:00Elves and Icelanders<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/417/cache/lavegur-trek_41729_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/417/cache/lavegur-trek_41729_600x450.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px;">Photo by Ida Koric on National Geographic's MyShot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I recently have seen articles popping up claiming that a majority of Icelanders believe in elves--I dug a little deeper, and found <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHvOeiGHgfw">this National Geographic video</a> from a feature in 2008.<br />
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Initially the idea might evoke a laugh, but its very interesting how this folklore survives--something taken from ages long ago before travelers even settled in Iceland from Norway and beyond.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/ari/alfar/alandslag/aelvesmod.htm">An article by Rolf Soderlind</a> out of Iceland appeared in Reuters at some point, and it explains how elves still play a part in modern Icelandic society--an odd story indeed, discussing how a woman who could allegedly communicate with elves was contracted to figure out why bulldozers kept breaking down in a construction zone a few hours outside Reykjavik.<br />
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However, a <a href="http://www.whygoiceland.com/six-things-to-know-about-icelandic-culture.html">travel article on Iceland</a> listing a few tips about Icelandic culture also claims that many Icelanders believe in elves, while Icelanders in the comments section dispute this. It should probably be noted that the article mentions that Icelanders have a great sense of humor--maybe the joke's on us?<br />
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Either way, Iceland is a place that definitely deserves some attention--not just for it's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMStcqHfwQ4">2011 volcanic eruption</a>--but also for its unique culture and natural beauty. I'm planning to make a visit late next spring with camping gear, a camera, a notebook and a bicycle. The photo up top shows the Laugavegur Trek, one of the main destinations for my expedition. I'm expecting quite an experience--but probably not any elves.<br />
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-810659349325489582012-10-10T06:30:00.000-07:002012-10-12T05:56:17.974-07:00The Legalization and Decriminalization of Marijuana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Marijuana--referred to in Europe often by its synonym of cannabis--is a significant issue this year as ballots are ready to be cast in the United States.<br />
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The states of Colorado and Washington are voting to legalize marijuana use, sale, and possession under state law, with some caveats including a minimum age and limited amounts. Oregon is also voting, but it seems less poised to pass the measure. <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/03/marijuana-could-be-legal-in-colorado-and-washington-after-election-day.html">The Daily Beast reports</a> on the issue, mentioning that the same campaign had gained major steam back in the 1970s, but quickly fell apart. Will that happen again? It doesn't seem so.<br />
<br />
Colorado is <a href="http://blog.norml.org/2012/09/17/latest-polling-shows-colorados-marijuana-legalization-initiative-with-growing-lead/">over 50% in favor</a> now, while <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/150149/Record-High-Americans-Favor-Legalizing-Marijuana.aspx">a Gallup poll from last year</a> put the nation as a whole at 50% as well. The times seem to be changing indeed, although the Daily Beast article above does say similar numbers existed before.<br />
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Outside the United States, however, similar movements are brewing. <a href="http://world.time.com/2012/06/26/uruguay-wants-to-legalize-marijuana-sales-should-the-rest-of-the-world-follow/">Uruguay is moving toward nationalization</a> of marijuana sales, while <a href="http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/sep/20/swiss_move_decriminalize_marijua">Switzerland appears to be on the edge</a> of allowing possession of 10 grams.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://alcoholism.about.com/od/pot/a/bldea050426_3.htm">An article on About.com</a> claims that marijuana legalization has not been a success in other countries, but this is a misleading and confusing claim. What defines a success? According to that article, success seems to be making fewer people use the drug--which seems beside the point of legalization. In the US, especially among libertarians, the definition of successful legalization of marijuana--and other drugs--is an end to the drug war and its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/business/in-rethinking-the-war-on-drugs-start-with-the-numbers.html?pagewanted=all">high costs in lives and dollars</a>, as well as an end to the drug war's empowerment and enrichment of drug cartels. In modern America, it seems to be the case that <a href="http://bigthink.com/endless-innovation/google-this-the-war-on-drugs-has-failed">the war on drugs itself has failed</a>.<br />
<br />
And the war on drugs isn't just limited to our border with Mexico. <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/12/the-war-on-drugs-is-fought-in-63-countries/178036/">The Atlantic reported</a> in 2010 that the war on drugs involved 63 countries, naming Guinea, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone as a few. We all have heard that some of the illegal drug supply comes from Canada. This year,<a href="http://www.dailypaul.com/252327/200-us-marines-deployed-to-guatemala-in-anti-drug-operation"> 200 US Marines were sent to Guatamala</a> to assist in counter-drug operations.<br />
<br />
Writer <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/an-artery-of-opium-a-vein-of-taliban.htm">Michael Yon posted in 2009</a> about Afghanistan and its status as the world's largest opium producer--as we can see, this war is being fought on all fronts, with a variety of methods.<br />
<br />
I know where I stand on the issue. I ask you, the reader--has the United States government lost the drug war? Will an end to prohibition mean an end to the war and its damages?<br />
<br />
2012 may be the turning of the tide in a very expensive, decades old endeavor that has failed to keep drugs out of wanting hands as well as pop culture and popular opinion.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-4058347145235133462012-10-09T15:15:00.000-07:002012-10-09T15:15:13.249-07:00The War on Drugs and Milton Friedman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Renowned and award-winning economist Milton Friedman was against the American "war on drugs" from the beginning, as he saw it as doomed to fail and parallel to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s.<br /><br />Australian cartoon artist Stuart McMillan <a href="http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/war-on-drugs/">presents a comic</a> that tells Friedman's point of view, and is a must read for anyone concerned about the current state of politics in the United States.<br />
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<a href="http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comics_en/war-on-drugs/"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://cdn.stuartmcmillen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2012-10-en-War-on-Drugs-03.png" width="452" /></a></div>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-57198113611757275212012-10-08T14:34:00.001-07:002012-10-08T14:41:23.840-07:00The Black Market and Bryan Christy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Writer <a href="http://www.bryanchristy.com/">Bryan Christy</a> has spent a decent part of the last few years following the niche segment of the global black market that trades in living wildlife as well as animal parts. Published twice in National Geographic since 2010, he covered the illicit activities and eventual capture of the notorious Anson Wong--perhaps the most powerful figure in trafficking endangered species--as well as the recent rebound of ivory trade in Africa and east Asia.<br />
<br />
This month in National Geographic his latter article was featured, and I just finished reading it--his field research is thorough and fascinating. I was most impressed by his blunt methods, as he sought information on how to smuggle ivory into the US by innocently approaching artisans, vendors, and even clergy in Thailand or the Philippines and asking for tips. They were quickly to suggest all sorts of approaches to concealing ivory in your luggage, bribing officials, or otherwise skirting the authorities. The ivory trade has increased recently, after the international treating organization seeking to suppress it's illegal exchange decided to allow Japan and then China to sell it "legally"--meanwhile, several tons of illegal ivory are being seized in ports through Southeast Asia and an estimated 25,000 or more elephants were poached in 2011. I definitely suggest reading the entire piece, aptly named "<a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text">Ivory Worship</a>".<br />
<br />
Christy's last National Geographic feature is, in my opinion, even more fascinating, being that it covers a much broader part of the black market. <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/asian-wildlife/christy-text">Click here to read "The Kingpin"</a>.<br />
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Keep an eye out for a longer piece I hope to write in the coming weeks on the global black market and some of its more interesting subsections. I've been reading about the trade and sale of human organs in places like China and Pakistan, among other uncouth and unusual goods.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-17229413447928832242012-10-07T04:38:00.001-07:002012-10-07T14:12:00.509-07:00Castle Beaufort - A "Hand-Me-Down" Fortress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
During my time in Lebanon last fall, I was able to see much of the small but diverse country. My final trip in Lebanon was to Castle Beaufort, just beyond the southern city of Nebatiyah, a bastion of Hezbollah support. I didn't exactly save this for last--in fact, I had abandoned the idea, until my roommate, friend and accomplice Tommy suggested we give it a go for the sake of a good adventure. It was a hard to reach spot, off the beaten path, literally off the map, but we tracked it down and made our way out there. It was a great decision.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Beaufort_map.png/800px-Beaufort_map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Beaufort_map.png/800px-Beaufort_map.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beaufort's location, overlooking the Litani River - From Wikipedia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We rode the minibus out of the Cola Intersection in southern Beirut, as was usual on any trip in this direction. There was only occasionally a bus going to Nebatiyah, but we managed to catch it with grand timing. If I'm not mistaken, it was the only bus going that day, and we would have missed it had we arrived a few minutes later.<br />
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Nebatiyah displayed very little to indicate its association with Hezbollah--maybe a few flags here and there, perhaps more conservative dress. Really, the difference between Nebatiyah and most Lebanese cities was that it seemed quiet, subdued, and desolate. Even Baalbak, with it's "in-your-face" Hezbollah presence to include banners, flags, and even t-shirts, was still a more lively and friendly town. It should be noted, however, that these other cities are also far better tourist destinations that intentionally create that atmosphere, while Nebatiyah is nothing of the sort due to its lack of any attractions.</div>
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Quiet little Nebatiyah had a few taxi drivers waiting around for a prospect, and we were it. We agreed on a price of twenty dollars to take us to Beaufort and back--an agreement that would seemingly be forgotten later, when the price suddenly doubled.<br />
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The driver took us to the castle, and agreed to wait an hour while we climbed around and explored. The first thing I noticed about Castle Beaufort was how well-preserved it was, against all expectations. The next noticeable characteristic is how well placed it is, high on a hill that is approachable from the northwest but sitting far above everything to the east and south. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrcKz8YlmOhnYi9XCFjuVIxBoXfKgfMkH2fHhAEpurNC5Ntcx7loO9csgDzwDISEptpCi8i46XYR6Xaq3P0cp56CpcbR6YVWKKo6pCrTxIY2Kkf5684xVDrFsUxbEa8yvjgFykrBszFtU/s1600/DSCF0596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrcKz8YlmOhnYi9XCFjuVIxBoXfKgfMkH2fHhAEpurNC5Ntcx7loO9csgDzwDISEptpCi8i46XYR6Xaq3P0cp56CpcbR6YVWKKo6pCrTxIY2Kkf5684xVDrFsUxbEa8yvjgFykrBszFtU/s400/DSCF0596.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bulk of the castle during my visit--scaffolding covered the other side</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Beaufort1982.jpg/800px-Beaufort1982.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Beaufort1982.jpg/800px-Beaufort1982.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 1982 photo of the castle</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnYcilPLwcOBKtGMZYXGgqodJCqGZ5WJNfX1gSP1K1Ta_819ESl3TGnhQDxew-XgN-ATFNHJq70yeh8imnd-T4NsmN-IfroTFib7kqQEvaW1p95NUn-dz0DcrxSgmAU_B5mzkWKV0F10K/s1600/DSCF0599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>
Castle Beaufort has a fascinating, but rather cloudy history. It is supposed that it was first built by French Crusaders, hence the name--but possible that it was built on the foundations of earlier Arab conquers and Romans before them, due to the ideal location for defense and observation. After being used by European crusaders, it was then re-occupied by Arabs, later seized by Ottoman Turks, and remained in their hands until the 20th Century. This is when the history of this region grew truly tumultuous due to modern politics and modern warfare--in the years since the establishment of the state of Israel, the castle fell within Lebanese borders, but was quickly occupied by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which was operating out of Lebanon during a large part of the Lebanese Civil War. The Israeli Defense Forces made frequent attacks on the castle during the 1970s, and much of its destruction is a result of this time.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnYcilPLwcOBKtGMZYXGgqodJCqGZ5WJNfX1gSP1K1Ta_819ESl3TGnhQDxew-XgN-ATFNHJq70yeh8imnd-T4NsmN-IfroTFib7kqQEvaW1p95NUn-dz0DcrxSgmAU_B5mzkWKV0F10K/s1600/DSCF0599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnYcilPLwcOBKtGMZYXGgqodJCqGZ5WJNfX1gSP1K1Ta_819ESl3TGnhQDxew-XgN-ATFNHJq70yeh8imnd-T4NsmN-IfroTFib7kqQEvaW1p95NUn-dz0DcrxSgmAU_B5mzkWKV0F10K/s640/DSCF0599.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view looking southeast--toward Israel, Syria, and the Golan Heights</td></tr>
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In 1982, the Israelis occupied the castle, and held it until 2000. After the Israeli withdrawal, a Hezbollah flag was flown over the castle for some time. Today, it definitely falls into their jurisdiction in Lebanon, and its possession is a small symbol of pride. It seems to offer no strategic value now, as it is probably more of a target than a stronghold. The Israelis supposedly detonated several explosives before leaving it in 2000, to render it useless--although I don't quite believe it worked. We also searched around for spent ordinance and dunnage like rifle shells, links, or cartridges, but I couldn't find a single sign of anything--nor anything, even trash, left over with Hebrew writing on it. I suspect the place has been scrubbed a bit.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmG6qoWmrj_cv0dvcQKTRD7oFii7ujdQY04ODdQ8jugbhSGITBZbKsRp4n3OBjiZMO9WQfte1PrPpn4G7LGNRYwaJyY4qIjgjRyKwfJZ0Vboyqa6ubFsq4Ae9hT99qut5aJRSXSZTvdqe/s1600/DSCF0615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmG6qoWmrj_cv0dvcQKTRD7oFii7ujdQY04ODdQ8jugbhSGITBZbKsRp4n3OBjiZMO9WQfte1PrPpn4G7LGNRYwaJyY4qIjgjRyKwfJZ0Vboyqa6ubFsq4Ae9hT99qut5aJRSXSZTvdqe/s400/DSCF0615.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px;">Looking down into the river valley below--a long way down</td></tr>
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Tommy and I explored the castle inside and out, top to bottom. Its insides were impressive--vaulted ceilings, stairways, a wide array of difference chambers and hallways. All were very well-preserved considering the history of the structure. From the outside, however, it can definitely appear to be a pile of rubble. However, its raw authenticity leads me to conclude that it may very well be the best castle I have ever visited, which I say having been to several in the UK, Spain, and Eastern Europe. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCMY1277F9iIsp_ksnF6ELFE-elxxh77scDAsSp9JxXlFaiK7Ib5fEyVDkpR320uo6yfNgQy3ro0xZLoskw3j2l2xK7iOPbxsav1Ia43dHrrRTHdxX_UwRPZDf_wPFrhPg4e9ivDejcKS/s1600/DSCF0606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCMY1277F9iIsp_ksnF6ELFE-elxxh77scDAsSp9JxXlFaiK7Ib5fEyVDkpR320uo6yfNgQy3ro0xZLoskw3j2l2xK7iOPbxsav1Ia43dHrrRTHdxX_UwRPZDf_wPFrhPg4e9ivDejcKS/s200/DSCF0606.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well-preserved interior</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cuFb-Ccgsci5V-Fjf6o3Q-DcGLMfXXf4R23TzIPzc4kaaROqXWihjuyo4l7uFJcrhbuc2IV2n6lWNGeOWPp8dG3rr7vzyxEdl5bxKBitUXiWXh64LKfSS2Sptp6CheZvIi6WK4BTalvO/s1600/DSCF0609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cuFb-Ccgsci5V-Fjf6o3Q-DcGLMfXXf4R23TzIPzc4kaaROqXWihjuyo4l7uFJcrhbuc2IV2n6lWNGeOWPp8dG3rr7vzyxEdl5bxKBitUXiWXh64LKfSS2Sptp6CheZvIi6WK4BTalvO/s200/DSCF0609.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hallway inside</td></tr>
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In Beaufort, the history is still in the air, and you are walking very literally in the footsteps of many people who shaped history. Nonetheless, the castle has scaffolding set up in many parts, and it appears a restoration is underway. Soon, it may be a more cleaned up, presentable site along the lines of a museum or a monument--something common in Europe that I think robs the castle of its soul, in a way.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dqr6PU5Av7VjKsyle9-UFfk7W0SUo0fMC8kP9c_rHSEuNpySyGH_bAW_NlzUJZ5UK_1aetX0GKnMvGeYsKjUjsm4effexuHxpbl-5zWAR77bh37_wrJp8bQ53n5oXFNPKX1zIqxq5srF/s1600/DSCF0644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dqr6PU5Av7VjKsyle9-UFfk7W0SUo0fMC8kP9c_rHSEuNpySyGH_bAW_NlzUJZ5UK_1aetX0GKnMvGeYsKjUjsm4effexuHxpbl-5zWAR77bh37_wrJp8bQ53n5oXFNPKX1zIqxq5srF/s400/DSCF0644.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On top, where the structure is much less intact</td></tr>
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The experience was well worth the effort, something I recommend to any visitor to Lebanon. Just, as anywhere in Lebanon, be careful to stick to the deals you made with guides and drivers--our taxi driver demanded double the price upon returning us to Nebatiyah, and after we refused to give him forty dollars, he became livid and said he refused to take any of our money at all. I was all for this, as it made it a free ride, but in the end he had a twenty dollar bill stuffed in his hands as we walked away. Just another day in Lebanon.<br />
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The history of the castle can be found in much more detail if you find some books on Lebanese history or read the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_Castle,_Lebanon">Wikipedia page</a> (which had almost no information at the time of my visit). Guidebooks often give the place a little nod, but hardly any tips on where it is, how to get there, or how it came about. </div>
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Another interesting perspective on the castle is to watch the Israeli film <i>Beaufort</i>, a war drama--one review goes as far as to call it an anti-war film--about Israeli soldiers during their occupation of the site. In my opinion, it displays a very real aspect of war, which often seems to involve sitting in one spot, watching the horizon, and withstanding poorly launched mortar and missile attacks. But don't take my word for it--ask a few veterans of Afghanistan. See the movie trailer below:</div>
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Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-54163899376115349162012-10-06T10:56:00.001-07:002012-10-06T10:56:21.597-07:00Muammar Gaddafi may have been killed by a French agent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210759/Gaddafi-killed-French-secret-serviceman-orders-Nicolas-Sarkozy-sources-claim.html">Daily Mail reports</a> that sources in Libya are suggesting Gaddafi's death may have been inflicted by a French undercover agent. While I am hesitant to call this a veritable story, there are some supporting points--including the rumor that Gaddafi was a liability to former French president Sarkozy, having financed his campaign in the past.<br />
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While it is certainly not absurd to say that foreign agents--American and European--helped propagate the revolt against Gaddafi's regime, saying that the death blow was delivered by someone in the service and trust of the French government is something that needs further confirmation. Keep watching the headlines, as this may develop further, or just be forgotten altogether.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7896879372312991378.post-36316562928549540922012-10-04T10:42:00.002-07:002012-10-07T14:17:51.258-07:00Georgia - What's Happening, and What Does It Mean?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been placed in a position of significant weakness after <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/10/georgia-president-mikheil-saakashvili-concedes-election-defeat.html">the defeat of his party</a> in this week's parliamentary elections. In times past, Saakashvili was seen as a noble reformer, being the first president elected through democratic process after Georgia's emergence from the former Soviet Union, and the changes brought about by the Rose Revolution of 2003.<br />
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For those new to Georgia, you must have several questions, and I'll try to steer you in the right direction.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMe2CsaoIrmaEhWRW0gkt2UHMK5kI69Sv4KG4O2CFzRaeoNt03BzDV-DJ1bjs6PBjgSxqKo3eQDxBppXwUTbUxmHHxLtxlAGPfGSN0V0JEi1K1oUeI26HRYuDWR4ikqARfVuN8Kl46tir9/s1600/DSCF0928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMe2CsaoIrmaEhWRW0gkt2UHMK5kI69Sv4KG4O2CFzRaeoNt03BzDV-DJ1bjs6PBjgSxqKo3eQDxBppXwUTbUxmHHxLtxlAGPfGSN0V0JEi1K1oUeI26HRYuDWR4ikqARfVuN8Kl46tir9/s640/DSCF0928.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Welc0me to Georgia" - a folk map from my 2011 visit in Tbilisi</td></tr>
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<b>What is the Rose Revolution?</b><br />
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The Rose Revolution was the popular movement in 2003, when Georgian's protested the government of Eduard Shevardnadze, eventually ousting him with a peaceful demonstration and bloodless takeover of parliament. See <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4532539.stm">this BBC article</a> for more details.<br />
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<b>Why did Georgians protest Saakashvili this year?</b><br />
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The primary turning point in the election was September 18th, when TV stations began releasing leaked footage from a Georgian prison showing the torture and rape of prisoners. Time Magazine's Simon Shuster <a href="http://world.time.com/2012/10/02/inside-the-prison-that-beat-a-president-how-georgias-saakashvili-lost-his-election/">revealed the details of his visit to the prison</a> years ago, and emphasized that the scandal seemed to be well hidden. Many of the prisoners affected may have been convicted members of Georgian mafias, many of them operating in Western Europe. This footage shocked Georgians, and caused Saakashvili's downfall.<br />
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<b>Then who won the election?</b><br />
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Vestnik Kavkaza, a Georgian news site, <a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/32132.html">features an article</a> on the breakdown of what happened as far as the votes go. The Georgian Dream Coalition, led by billionaire <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/boris-ivanishvili/">Bidzina Ivanishvili</a>, will now be the dominant power in Georgian Parliament. Ivanishvili is an interesting character, and an old enemy of Saakashvili's--but also a man with questionable loyalties to Russia, a country not very popular with your average Georgian.<br />
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<b>What is the platform of the Georgian Dream Coalition?</b><br />
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The <a href="http://www.georgiandream.ge/eng,georgian-dream-coalition,policy-plans">Georgian Dream Policy Plans</a> as listed on their website seem to offer a very moderate political platform by US standards, with perhaps a lean toward progressivism. The party seeks to attract investment to Georgia, boosting revenues and making a priority out of ending unemployment problems and providing health care for all. They also focus on expanding the accessibility of education, as well as reforming the way government deals with agriculture. The coalition, overall, has a plan to take care of everyone through government assistance and regulation.<br />
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<b>And what was Sakaashvili's platform?</b><br />
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Saakashvili's party, the United National Movement, offers a very similar platform, although it is perhaps more conservative in what it promises and how far the government's reach is to be extended. In the economic sense, it's moderate with maybe a right lean, and not vastly different from the Georgian Drea Coalition at first glance. Reading into the politics more, one may find more fundamental differences for the average Georgian, however.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The United National Movement's agenda</td></tr>
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<b>What does this mean in world politics?</b><br />
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First, let's think about what this means for Georgia. It is important to recognize that Sakaashvili, while defeated in a sense, has not lost the election for his own office--he will be a lame duck for the rest of his term with a Georgian Dream Coalition Parliament, similar to when President George W. Bush faced his final term with a Democratic Congress. The major change for Georgia right now is that what was a democratic system that was nonetheless dominated by a single party now has a second party competing--this means more democracy, and is a good thing.<br />
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However, Saakashvili's loss of influence means he will certainly be out of office permanently after his term expires. Saakashvili was a staunch American ally, and in turn was coldly opposed to the Russian Federation. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-02/putin-profits-as-u-s-ally-saakashvili-loses-in-georgia-election.html">According to some opinions</a>, his defeat could lead to a weakening of American influence and what may either be called a recovery of Russo-Georgian relations or a revival of Russian dominance (which probably never really disappeared, in potential anyway). Russian influence would probably affect democracy in the Caucasus, I predict negatively, as well as affecting the energy sector--particularly plans to run pipelines through Georgia and compete with Russian energy supply to Western Europe and beyond.<br />
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<b>What's with the tension between Georgia and Russia?</b><br />
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Georgia has a long history of tension with Russia. It was once under the rule and protection of the Russian crown, due to constant threat of invasion from the south, but when in declared independence after the Bolshevik Revolution, it was briefly a republic before being annexed into the Soviet Union. Although Josef Stalin was a native of Gori, Georgia, the Georgians identified very poorly with the Soviets and were persecuted for their resistance. Georgia finally regained independence after the fall of the Soviet Union.<br />
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In 2008, Russian launched a brief assault on Georgian territory over the dispute of several ethnic regions along the Russian border--Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russians claimed they were protected these lands from the Georgian government, and in the process penetrated deep into Georgia, destroying many villages, setting fires to the forest, and occupying key routes of supply and movement.<br />
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Michael Totten covered the friction there very well, <a href="http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/09/the-scorching-o.php">as he recorded here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOfb8EXHTnEXy-SD8fiuNYKAvNeDlHDV3HUZMiHEGp-1Ckp8y01ctAvMvDy-b9XRDKqQCjKPFydNYFEEALLjIdl_MKf5pozRsLiBB7WdyJ6mBgunevYiYP1U8TfexOc6LctXsi8qo6H4o/s1600/DSCF0742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOfb8EXHTnEXy-SD8fiuNYKAvNeDlHDV3HUZMiHEGp-1Ckp8y01ctAvMvDy-b9XRDKqQCjKPFydNYFEEALLjIdl_MKf5pozRsLiBB7WdyJ6mBgunevYiYP1U8TfexOc6LctXsi8qo6H4o/s640/DSCF0742.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Akhaltsikhe, Georgia - Far in the south of the country, Russian jets destroyed many homes and structures here in 2008, the damage of which I was still able to see extensively in my 2011 visit.</td></tr>
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<b>And what's Georgia's connection the United States?</b><br />
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Besides the fact that President Bush may very well have negotiated the Russians away from a complete onslaught against the Georgians in 2008, the Georgians have often looked to Americans for political and philosophical inspiration. A museum in Tbilisi recounts the struggle for Georgian independence over the years, and shows a letter from the early 20th Century urging American intervention against the Bolshevik takeover, the Americans being the only hope for Georgian democracy. The constitution of modern Georgia is also based on the American constitution, as alleged in the same museum, I believe. Even if it isn't true, it surely demonstrates that Georgians do indeed have a great affinity for their American friends.<br />
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<b>And what's with the suffix "-shvili" in all these Georgian names?!</b><br />
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Shvili is the equivalent of many common parts of names in other parts of the world, meaning "son of". The Arabs have <i>ibn</i> as in Ibn Ali, the Nords have <i>sen</i> as in Amundsen, and of course English speakers have <i>son</i> like Johnson.<br />
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Another common suffix of Georgian names is "dze" also meaning son. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kakabadze">David Kakabadze</a>, a famous and talented Georgian painter, has a name along these lines.<br />
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I hope all your questions have been answered, and if reading this has brought about many new ones, then I'm glad to have gotten you thinking. Check in for future posts on all things interesting and essential in the world.</div>
Chris B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11331289984920249869noreply@blogger.com0