Afghan invincibility -- an attack on the myth

I stumbled across this skeptical look at the myth of Afghan invincibility just now. I have to say that I share the skepticism myself. Otherwise sensible people have said that even Alexander the Great  could not beat them. It's statements like this that rang an alarm for me. Alexander the Great beat everybody. Exactly how much control he and his successors and other pre-modern...

Makes the case

A dissent from the Globe and Mail's endorsement:  Anyone but Harp...

My father, the hero -- a story from Syria (later revealed to be a hoax)

An amazing story out of Damascus.  -- which turned out  to be a hoax.Two security guys show up in the middle of the night to arrest, harass, brutalize or rape Amina, a known gay/lesbian activist.  The following scene unfolds (excerpted and emphasis added):"We have enough [reason to arrest you]," the same one says. "Conspiring against the state, urging armed uprising,...

Rick Mercer on the campaign -- Is Stephen Harper a hologram?

Asked by someone who followed him around in person.There's much more well worth reading, it's a substantial pie...

Vote mobs

From the Ottawa Citizen: [Emphasis and Rick Mercer link SM]In his April 22 column, “Vote Mob Mentality”, Michael Taube has insulted Canadian youth, and in my view as a participant, he has mischaracterized the nature and goals of campus Vote Mobs.First of all, let’s lay one...

Syria as the key to the Middle East

I can't tell if my readers are fascinated or bored by my coverage of the Arab Spring.  I continue to forward material anyway.  I will need it next year for History of Islamic Civilization.  There is also the fact that a lot of predictions and claims are being made about the meaning of it all, and it will be interesting to see how those hold up.Today I offer you a...

A tragic Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates says no:Yesterday, Robert Zimmerman was kind enough to link this podcast on the Civil War, and the reasons soldiers, Union and Confederate, offered up for fighting. It's a good segment which I heartily recommend, especially for those of us in the Effete Liberal Book Club. That said, one thing struck me about the conversation, which inevitably comes...

Kangirsuk, Quebec, near Ungava Bay

The grad student who was my teaching assistant for History of Islamic Civilization is off to the real Canadian North in August to be one of two high school teachers in this village of less than 500 people.Lots of my Nipissing University students get their first teaching jobs in such...

A timely meditation on democracy

Phil Paine wrote a provocative "Seventh Meditation on Democracy" during the last federal election in Canada.  For this one, I'm reposting this excerpt (or you can read the whole thing here):A few days ago, I was in the sub­way, and I over­heard a con­ver­sa­tion about our cur­rent national elec­tion. Two boys who, from their appear­ance, could have been no fur­ther along...

In Turkmenistan, it's a day to celebrate Akhal-Teke horses

From the MSNBC site:Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov smiles as he rides a horse with a dove on his shoulder in the capital Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Sunday, April 24. Wearing a blue caftan and shaggy sheepskin hat, Turkmenistan's president looked every part...

Music for Easter from the future

Again from TED.com, again thanks to Ken Stan...

Herbie Hancock

At TED.com, 2009:Thanks to Ken Stange for the li...

What might be happening in Syria

Syriana by Robert D. Kaplan (Foreign Policy): Syria at this moment in history constitutes a riddle. Is it, indeed, prone to civil conflict as the election results of the 1940s and 1950s indicate; or has the population quietly forged a national identity in the intervening decades,...

More from Gulf War XX -- with soundtrack

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=518491293926#!/video/video.php?v=518491293926Notice no sn...

More comment from Syria

Two items from Joshua Landis at Syria Comment. First, Syrians Comment on Homs and Syria’s Future (20 April 2011).  Note the variety of views:Ziadsouri: I just received bad news. A friend of mine lost his son last night in 7oms. He was a very good young man and a recent graduate of Mechanical Engineering. My friend told me his boy, just like the rest of population, had no hope...

Robert E. Lee and secession

For most purposes, I have given up on the New York Times. This article,The General in His Study, from the opinion pages shows that they still can present exciting material.Like many border-state families, the Lees and their friends were sharply divided on the issues. When Lee consulted his brothers, sister and local clergymen, he found that most leaned toward the Union. At a...

Guy Halsall on the Staffordshire Hoard

My memory is not what it once was, but I don't recall commenting on this presentation on the Staffordshire Hoard. Guy Halsall, the speaker on this occasion, is a careful historian of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and has written a brilliant book on early medieval warfare,...

More medieval re-creation: Kingdom of Calontir War College 2011

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President Lester Pearson

A visitor from another timeline wandered into the Islamic Civilization final exam to tell us that in his/her world, Pearson was the US President during the Suez Crisis.These cross-time travelers are surprisingly common this time of year. I well remember when one came here to tell...

Gulf Wars XX

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Graduate Research Conference, April 19, 2011 at Nipissing University

 The conference will take place at the Monastery, Room M106  9:45-10:00 Welcome & Opening Remarks from Dean Bavington, MA History Graduate Advisor 10:00 – 11:00 Newspapers & History Chair: Derek Neal Whitney Croskery “Constructing the Beastess: The Trial of Irma Grese and the British Media, 1945” Rory Currie "North Bay Ontario: The Victory Bond campaign during...

The cinematic present tense

You know how when you are retelling the story of a movie you've seen, how you kind of naturally fall into the present tense?  Is there a name for that phenomenon?  Besides the one I've just made up?Yes, this query is related to my essay grading.  I have a very consistent example of the use of the "cinematic present tense" right here.  (But I can't show yo...

A day late for the anniversary

Yes, Russia can be pro...

Thoughts while grading essays

not "this"It occurred to me on the third essay that all of them would have been considerably improved and earned higher grades if my students did two things:1. Introduced each quotation.  E.g.:As the prominent French knight Geoffroi de Charny said in his Book of Chivalry, "He who does more is worth more." 2. Began no sentences with a bare "this."  E.g.: This is very important. ...

Myths

Ta-Nehisi Coates on black Confederate soldiers:The claim that blacks "served on both sides," which is made at the outset, is true in the most broadest sense of the word "serve," or in much the same way that both Usain Bolt and I both "run." Some 180,000 black people fought for the Union. Krick claims twelve for the Confederacy, and I'd be very interested in those specific cases.It's...

All candidates' meeting Thursday 1 pm

Good Day,On behalf of the student-organized Nipissing Voting Initiative, and in the run-up to the federal election, it is my pleasure to invite you and your students to a debate among the candidates for election in the riding of Nipissing-Temiskiming, this Thursday at 1PM in the Nipissing Theatre.The debate will be moderated by Political Science student Andrej Litvinjenko, and...

Jenny Scheinman and Bruce Cockburn

Jenny Scheinman still couldn't quite believe that she was opening for Bruce Cockburn and playing with him in his set. But she held her own; this is the whole three-person band doing her song, "The Littlest Prisone...

Lovers in a dangerous time

"...sometimes you're made to feel that your love's a crime."Over a decade ago I took my son, a budding guitarist, to his first concert: Bruce Cockburn. Of course I knew Cockburn as a first-rate musician, or thought I did. But on stage with time and space to REALLY PLAY, he astonished me. I raved to my friend Phil my amazement at his genius."He's always been a genius," said Phil.I...

Egypt: a rising or a setting sun, Mr. Franklin?

Former Army officer protests against Tantawi, Enan from arabist on Vimeo.A former Army officer denounces the Army at Tahrir Square.I rather hope the sun is rising somewhe...

Biggest honking computer war-game I've ever heard of: Manzikert

Or at least the logistics of Manzikert. Intellectually exciting, even if there is no combat. A good journalistic accou...

Before Pearl Harbor: The United States at War

Brad DeLong the economist blogger has been for quite a while been running a feature called Liveblogging World War II. In it he posts a document or news item from 60 years ago exactly.What I've learned is that the USA was essentially at war well before Pearl Harbor.  Note today's...

And what about Iraq?

They want their share of Arab Spring.Juan Cole:In Iraq, masses began converging from the south and from Diyala province in the east on Baghdad, heeding the call of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for a million-person demonstration to mark what the Sadrists and many Sunnis see as 8 years of American military occupation. April 9 is commemorated by the pro-American politicians...

The Global Americana Institute brings you Thomas Jefferson in Arabic

Juan Cole announces:I am excited to announce that the Global Americana Institute has, in partnership with Dar al-Saqi of Beirut brought out a volume of selected writings of Thomas Jefferson in Arabic. It was elegantly translated by Professors Mounira Soliman and Walid Hamamsy of...

Music from space

This wonderful piece of video has already appeared in two blogs I subscribe to, but it deserves wide circulation, so I'm here to do my pa...

Democracy abused in Canada -- too much even for the National Post

It's Harper, of course.  Matt Gurney tells the story:During a stop last Sunday in London, a 19-year-old political science student at the nearby University of Western Ontario, Awish Aslam, joined a Conservative rally where the Prime Minister was to speak. She registered online...

Joshua Landis on the not-quite-yet revolution in Syria

Landis talks about the relative calm in Syria, and its limits:Even if the government in Damascus remains powerful for the time being and Syrians cling to the stability it promises, there can be little doubt that we are witnessing a profound break from the past. The Arab Street has finally come into its own. Rulers will have to think twice before treating their people like...

Debate in Egypt on the role of religion in politics

Are Islamist (Salafist) scholars just another part of the tired old establishment?  Al Masry al Youm:The prominent Islamic scholar Youssef al-Qaradawi leveled severe criticism at Egypt's Salafi movement, describing its thinking as both stagnant and extreme. Al-Qaradawi, who heads the International Union of Muslim Scholars, blamed the rise of Salafis on the absence of a...

Study sheet HIST 3805

Students in History of Islamic Civilization can find the final exam study sheet he...

Buzkashi on the Afghan New Year (Nowruz)

Three pictures from the games at Mazar-i-Sharif, thanks to the Big Picture:Click to see a larger pictu...

The search for Middle Eastern stability

One thing this article by Thanassis Cambanis in the Boston Globe misses is an opportunity to ask, "if a rigid 'stability' can only end in a huge, unpredictable blow-up, is it stability at all?" But it gets pretty close, and makes some very good points.America’s main goals in the Middle East have remained constant at least since the Carter years: We want a region in which oil flows...