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24. The Great War - causes

the 1st great crisis in modern scientific-industrial society was WWI
--Imperialist competition in the Balkans triggered the war
--the Austrio-Hungarian Empire was huge and lined Germany, Russia, Swiss, and Italy (Ottoman Empire was where Turkey is)

RESULT: Capitalism , democracy, socialism-communism, and supremacist nationalism emerged - open trade ended
1. Capitalist democracy
--U.S. Britain, France, Latin Am.) - freedom, capitalism, and international institutions for maintaining peace

2. Communism-socialism (Soviet Union) - equality > freedom and command economy controlled from the top

3. supremacist nationalism (Germany, Italy, Japan) - both democracy and communism - racial supremacy and dictatorial/authoritarian rule - state controlled economy and territorial expansion through military conquest

WWII and rise of new nations - planned by supremacist nationalists - WWI ended global free trade of 19th century

Cold War (1st - will be later)

1st "hot" phase - U.S. and Soviet surround with allies from Europe and Asia - fought each other through "proxies -- smarter allied states - climaxed with cuban missile crisis

2nd "cooling phase" - reduced tensions and decreased nuclear arsenals...proxy fighting continues

3rd industrial revolution
--computer revolution put U.S. on course to defeat USSR - US became unrivaled superpower - adv. computer tech., powerful financial services and unmatched military strength

Russia, Italy and Germany gov.

Russia - communism, Italy - racism, Germany - Nazism
--spreading principles of modernity
--supremacist nationalism was destroyed by the alliance of communism and capitalist democracy

The Great War

July 27, 1914 - Diff. representations on way to modernity
--scientific-industrial society (BRIT., US. FR. Germ) and industrialization (Japan, Russia, Ottoman, Austria-Hungary)

Allies = France, Russia, Britain
Central Powers = Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

--Europe dominated by imperial competition and need for balance of power (following Napoleonic wars)
--two trends: constitutionalism and ethnic nationalism vs. industrialization
--Ottoman decrease and Russian empire expanding
--fight over Bosnia-Herzegovina - Austria Hungary claimed - later a Bosnian Serb nationalist group assassinated the Austrian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand and his wife --- assassination Began to drive Europe into WW1

Total War

warfare in which all resources of the nation (included population) are marshaled for the war effort - all segments of society seen as targets
--rely on precise timing and speedy mobilization of forces

by 1918 - N France and Belgium resembled moonscapes from 4 years of destruction and carnage - unluckiest city was Ypres, Belgium - suffered 3 battles and was all but obliterated by wars end

Schlieffen Plan

a massive assault on N Franz through Belgium by Germany
--trap and isolated French armies (needed to defeat France before Russia's army was mobilized)
--failed plan - after French and British victory in 1st battle of the Marne - Russia rapidly mobilized - 2 sides forced into TRENCH WARFARE
--failed bc they were trying to quickly get to France before Russia mobilized...which they did more quickly than expected and attacked Germany on the other side - they add to abandon the western front and defend the east from Russia
--this war also introduced the machine gun

Armenian Genocide

germans were able to halt Russian advances and inflict heavy losses
--Ottoman Empire helped and suffered heavy losses - which prompted it to massacre 1 million Armenians

Italy, Greece and Romania joined the Allies - also recruited China 1917 and US - WW1 now involved every major state in the world
--Bulgaria joined the central powers

Turning point of the war 1917

war caused Tsar Nicolas II to create new social-democratic gov. - committed to carrying on the war (grew unpopular)

Rise of COMMUNIST BOLSHEVIK PARTY - of Vladamir Lenin
--campaigned against cont. war - 1917 Nov. Lenin took over gov. with soldiers in St. Petersburg - after seizing power...began discussions with Germany and signed treaty to give about 1/3 of Russian population territory and resources to Germany so Russia could withdraw from war
--Germans closer to achieving goals: LEBENSRAUM (living space) in industrialized Europe part of Russia

US joining WWI

US originally declared neutral at the start -- but during switched to the allied side - German sinking of the British ship, LUSITANIA (1915), Which killed 100+ Americans brought US to war
--entrance of US provided resources for ALLIES to win war
--ALLIES: Called for freedom of seas, natural powers, self-determination for all people and peace
--US sent troops to France and defeated German adv.

Results of the war

--5 years after assassination of Franz Ferdinand
--Germany lost overseas colonies - allies declared Germany responsibile for war and put military restrictions and reparation pmts. - debt

--body of 58 global states as part of treaty of Versailles that would ensure world peace

Complex underlain causes of the Great War (class notes)

Great War (1914-1918)
1. Ascendency of Germany

2. Entangling Alliances
--triple Entente (later Allied powers) - Britain, France, and Russia
--Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary (eventually Ottoman Empire)

3. Cult of the Offensive

4. Decline of the Ottoman Empire

5. The rise of nationalism in the empires of Central and Eastern Europe

Battle of the Somme

Somme offensive - one of the largest battles of WWI - July 1 thought November 1 1916 near Somme river in France
--one of the bloodiest military battles in history
--first day: British suffered 57,000 casualties - both allies and central powers lost more than 1.5 million men in the end
--this battle was first great offensive for the British - Britain changed military tactics - Brit. and Fr. vs. Germany
--meant to be a joint French and British operation
--this changed from 2 years of trench warfare to the allies trying to break through German lines on the western front (Fr. and Brit. changing tactics to attack Germany)

--U-boats, airplanes, chemical weapons

also Propoganda!!

Lieutenant John McCrae

Canadian surgeon who fought in WWI
--fought in Flanders, Belgium
--wrote, "In Flanders Fields" - famous WWI poem - we often remember this poem on Memorial Day in the US

Wildred Owen is another famous poet - he died a week before WWI ended by a British Assault on Germany

Earl Haig, Edinburgh castle,
Aberdeen memorial,
American doughboys

Outcomes of the Great War

nearly 70 million men fought in the war
--8 million dead, 20 million wounded
--civilians suffered from aerial bombardment, food shortages, and disease
--around 800,000 die in the Armenian genocide
--at least 20 million civilians die worldwide from influenza outbreak
--psychological damage and the "lost generation"

25. The interwar in Europe

after WWI, France and Britain struggled - huge DEBT
--league of nations had mandate system - colonies were to be prepared for future independence

Britain - shift from state control to market capitalism
--also dependent on world trade (which decreased dramatically after war)
--Britain also owed war debt $4.3 billion to US - Britain's ability to repay depended on Germany entire European Econ. system fragile in 1920s

Interwar period: unemployment HIGH and investments low

Autarky and mandates

Autarky - condition of economic independence and self-sufficiency as state policy
--Britain created by decreasing tariffs and world trade
--to get out of depression - defect gov. spending - decreased tariffs, devalue currency - return to gold standard
--Brit. also grew from 2 mil. sq. miles to 14 million - empire - imperial expansion to Middle East - rec. Arab provinces of Ottoman Empire (Fr. and Brit)

--huge human and property loss during war
--war had been fought with material borrowed from US and Britain - had to be paid
--$ to repair came from increasing taxes, German reparations and German taxes
--returned to the gold standard
--supremacist nationalism

--Quasi-colonies created by league of nations - mandated key territories of Ottoman Empire to Britain and France - eventually to turn into independent colonies

Great Depression

global economic crisis that followed the crash of the NY stock exchange on Oct. 29, 2929 - resulted in massive unemployment and economic misery worldwide
--sever in England

Woodrow Wilson's 14 pts.

(it was a reading assignment) - go READ IT

The 14 Points was a stmt. of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end WWI
--principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by Pres.Woodrow Wilson
--failed bc did not call for harsh reparations of punishment against the Central Powers
--the final point of the Fourteen Points called for a "general association of nations" that would prevent future conflict

part of the points was the creation of the league of nations
--designed to prevent future destructive wars - arms control and mutual defense guarantees

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

--born in the former Ottoman Empire
--he was involved with the Young Turks, a revolutionary group that deposed the sultan in 1909
--led the Turkish war for independence
--signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which made Turkey a republic
--served as Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death in 1938
--implemented reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country

made sure Turkish parliament was open to pluralism - adopted the French model of separation of state and religion
--European family law, Latin alphabet, western calendar, metric weights, modern clothing and women's suffrage
--launched statism during Great Depression - Turkeys version of deficit spending

1920s culture

Model T assembly line
--Jazz and cabaret
--1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix
--1930 World Cup, Uruguay
--Flappers in Paris (French flappers were big)

20s and 30s - lots of advertising

Jarrow Crusade 1936

--200 men to march in protest from Jarrow to London

John Maynard Keynes

--during the 1930s in an attempt to understand the Great Depression..Keynes advocated inc. government expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the depression
--capitalism is good - work for money, businesses hire and pay - they buy what they want to

Outcome of great war leading into interwar period

--war destroyed the German, Ottoman, Austio-Hungarian, and Russian empires
--many new nation-states emerged in eastern and central Europe
--spread of democracy and woman's suffrage
--Treaty of Versailles, 1919 - war guilty clause/punishment of Germany

Germany experienced HYPERINFLATION - banknotes were used as waste paper...used to light the stove

Paris peace conference (Versailles peace conference)

--called the Big Four

in Treaty of Versailles - forced Germany to accept responsibility for loss and damage to which Allied and associated gov. had been subjected to by war imposed upon them by aggression of Germany and her allies

the WILSONIAN MOMENT - book about Paris Peace conference when allies debated about a bunch of smaller nations who waited to see what their fate would be
--India, Egypt, China and Korea
--this led to third world liberation movements - influence and sparked wave of nationalism that is still resonating globally today

league of nations

part of the points was the creation of the league of nations

Palace of Nations is the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland
--It was built between 1929 and 1938 to serve as the headquarters of the League of Nations

--mandate system
--Germany and Russia excluded from the league
--no US either

26. The Soviet Union

Communism arose out of QQI
--Bolsheviks under Lenin triumphed in civil war and established union of Soviet Socialist Republics
--Lenin's successor was Stalin - built Communist party - by WWII, Soviet Union joined ranks of industrialized powers

Vladimir lenin

Karl Marx was the father of communism
--lenin adapted Marxism to his circumstances -instill communist ideology in expanding working class
--Lenin - middle class family - his brother was assassinated by Tsar Alexander II - let do his hatred for Russian Autocracy
--fal of tsar gov. in 1917 - Lenin and Bolsheviks opportunity (included Stalin and Trotsky)

Nov. 1917 - staged coup d' état in Petrograd
--minority group who took over gov. - "red force"
--price for communist victory was economic collapse
--Lenin taught "War communism" - red army to country to get food - Brutal methods

Joseph Stalin

Lenin died 1924 - Stalin took his place
--he had fought for 6 years against potential rivals - including Trotsky
--he refried him into exile and had him assassinated in Mexico

thought industrialization through Lenin's NEP (new economic policy) was too slow - to acceleration industrialization he started collectivization of agriculture
--"wealthiest" farmers on grain-producing lands (Called Kulaks) were "liquidated" - selected for execution, removal to labor camps, or resettlement on inferior soils - property confiscated
--btwn 6-14 million farmers forcibly removed (killed or starved to death)

New economic policy
--helped society return to pre-war levels of industrial production
--peasants fought against gov. - 1922 another civil war threats
--he put in temporary NEP - micro of private and state investments in factories and small-scale food marketing by peasants

3 Mausoleum's - monumental buildings after Lenin

agricultural production decreases, food rations, wages decrease - confiscate wealth from KULAKS
--used income from oil exports and grain exports to construct factories
--1939 - industrialization at human cost

introduced the 1st 5-year plan
--list of economic goals based on socialism--policy of collectivization!!
--Kulak transit camps

huge famine in Kiev - many die

Feb. and Oct. revolutions (soviet union)

Moscow Bolshevik Uprising is the armed uprising of the Bolsheviks in Moscow
--November 1917 during the October Revolution of Russia
--It was in Oct., Moscow where the most prolonged and bitter fighting unfolded
--leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the Duma's provisional gov.
--led to introduction of Marxist socialism under Lenin

Trotsky led the red army - Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
--Trotsky called (Bronstein)

--then huge change in physical culture

Great Terror

--The leader of Communist Russia, Joseph Stalin, was paranoid of opposition. It was this paranoia that led to the Great Purge where millions of people were executed or sent to labor camps in Siberia
--marks a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s

Appeal of the Soviet Union

--planned economy
--full employment
--welfare state
--racial equality
--triumph of science and reason
--promise of a better future

27. Facism and Nazism
(Benito Mussolini)

Another vision of modernity: supremacist nationalism
--fascism - alternative to democracy and communism after WWI in Italy

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)
--journalist for socialist newspapers
--majority of socialists opposed war...yet he supported it
--found Italian combat squad - war veterans dressed in black shirts who broke up communist rallies and strikes
--symbol of movement was fasces (old Roman emblem of solidarity in form of bundle of sticks and ax, tied with ribbon) - there is evidence of fasces in US political imagery
--fascist "black shirts" - breakdown law and order - anti communist and anti democracy
--demanded march on Rome by 10,000 BLACK SHIRTS

Italian fascism

1923 - Mussolini led gov. in passing law that gave 2/3 of seats in parliament to party with most votes - later Il Duce won 2/3 and began to implement fascist corporate state
--by 1926 - elections abolished, censored press, and secret police monitoring the population - all officials appointed from above
--Catholicism became state religion - bc made deal with Vatican to support fascists

Italy worked in Depression by deficit spending and state investments
--Mussolini formed - industrial reconstruction institute - took over industrial and commercial holdings of banks that had failed earlier - revived Italian industrials

policy of Autarky - conquered Libya (former Ottoman colony), Ethiopia and merged Italian Entrea and Somalia into Italian East Africa
--league of nations protested Ethiopia conquest
--Mussolini felt isolated and tried to gain closer relationship with Nazi Hitler
--together formed the Axis powers, later joined by Japan in 1941

Germany struggles after WWI

struggled in transition from empire to republic after WWI - Weimar Republic took over
--France waned Germ. divided into individual states again - Brit. and AM were opposed but forced Germ. to accept responsibility for war and make pmts. for reparation
--huge hyperinflation in Germany - German mark became worthless
--US created Dawes plan to advance credits to Euro. banks to refinance German reparation pmts.
--after stock market crash of 1929 - US banks began to recall loans made to Euro. - Euro. banks began to fail, world trade dec., unemployment increase
--many grew opposed to democracy and voted for extreme gov, (communists and supremacist nationalists)
--the national socialist German workers' party (NSDAP/ Nazi) became largest party in Parliament - led by Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Failed uprising 1923 - went to prison
--wrote Mein Kampf - blamed Jews for WWI and communists for the central powers losing the war
--supported superior Aryan race and wanted "living space" principle
--became chancellor - pres. allowed him to declare martial law
--after making deal with Vatican, Hitler had power to rule for 4 years
--response: abolished federalist structure, purged civil service of Jews, closed down all other parties, censorship laws, sent communists to camps
--lots of support bc within 1 year unemployment down by 10% - did a lot for German economy
--popular leader
--incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany alarmed British prime minister - Chamberlain

National Socialism and anti-semitism

national socialism
--the political doctrine of the Nazi Party of Germany

anti-semitism - hostility to or prejudice against Jews
--these racist beliefs led many Jews to Palestine to escape riots
--zionism - belief that European Jews, or all Jews, are entitled to national homeland corresponding to the territory of ancient Israel

Common features of "totalitarian" regimes

1. rejection of real democracy
--charismatic leaders and one-party rule

2. state intervention in economy

3. mass organizations employed for state purposes
--people treated like a mobilized army

4. large scale social welfare policies

5. conflicted about WOMEN in public roles
--equality proclaimed but so were gender roles

6. curtailed civil liberties

7. terror and violence used against enemies

8. many admirers and would-be imitators in other countries

diff. between fascism and soviet style socialism

1. ideology
--national (often racial) vs. international
--class harmony vs. class warfare
--religious tolerance vs. state atheism

2. private property and private enterprise vs. state control and state ownership

3. benevolent vs. rapacious colonialism

4. "total control" greater for soviets
--even though it promised an eventual withering away of the state

diff. between fascism and soviet style socialism

1. ideology
--national (often racial) vs. international
--class harmony vs. class warfare
--religious tolerance vs. state atheism

3. benevolent vs. rapacious colonialism

4. "total control" greater for soviets

28. The interwar in Asia

most important area for Britain and France after WWI was the Middle East - postwar peace terms gave Brit. and Fr. access to Arab provinces from former Ottoman Empire as MANDATES
--but Arab leaders were strongly opposed
--Britain made "divide and rule" policy in Middle eastern mandate
--Brit. took control of India - protestors against Britain called for self-rule (Swarai) - urged NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT - wanted "direct democracy" with complete independence from Britain

Swaraj - Bal Gangadhar Tilak focsed on

Mohandas Gandhi

advocated nonviolence and self-rule
--nonviolent civil disobediences
--demanded complete independence - in Mar. 1930 - led 24-day SALT MARCH to sea with his followers to pan salt, which gov. had refused to free from taxation
--Brit. gov. succeed at repressing national congress

MUSLIM LEAGUE OF Muhammad Ali Jinnah
--recognized as representative of the Muslisms (Brit. was reluctant to give up colonialism)

--insistence on truth or truth-force
--a policy of passive political resistance, especially that advocated by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India

after WWI, Jap. ruling class consisted of Samurai who retired and for first time commoners entered politics in Japan
--formed 2 unstable conservative parties that represented small-bus. and landowner interests, but financed by big bus. cartels
--worried about communist influence...created peace preservation law 1925 and anyone violating "national essence" in thought or action could be arrested
--Tokko, secret services, made 70000 arrests btw 1925-45
--law was turning pt. switching from liberalism to militarism
--labor strikes in 1920s

Supremacist nationalism in Japan

absolutism of emperor and right of jr. offices to refuse to execute parliamentary laws - led military to achieve dominance over parliament in 1930s

Growth of Chinese nationalist party (GDM) altered fragile balance of power among Japan's efforts to expand
---Japan Kwangtung army blew up train in Manchuria, China 1928
--Mukden incident in 31 - Jap. bombed railroad
--Jap. politicians installed last Manchu Qingchin emperor, Pu-yi (Henry), and later Jap. forced moved from Manchuria to N China to invade

Qing Dynasty had failed to develop a sustained effort at reform in response to western challenge 1800s
--Boxers rebellion 1900 - after radical groups begin to work on over throwing Qing

leftist - communism, socialism, liberalism

rightist - fascism, conservatism, capitalism

Sun Yet-sen

important revolutionary figure -- began revolutionary alliance 1905
--3 groups led uprisings that reduced Qing to small territory in N
--Qing commander, Yuan Shi Kai, made deal to end Qing and give him Presidency of new republic
--he threw sun to the side, even though he had done so much to begin revolution
--remained an inspirational figure in China for nationalists

known for starting/leading the Guomindang - nationalist party (GMD)

May 4th movement

1919 - decision by Allies at Versailles to allow Jap. to keep German territory in China it had seized at beg. of war
--this movement is often cited as beg. of modern Chinese nationalism
--inspired by Bolshevik revolution, Chinese communist party (CCP) was founded 1921

1923, Sun's nationalist party reorganized and supplied with Soviet help
--members of CCP joined 3rd communist international (comintern) -- which becomes the First United Front

Chiang K'ai Shek

worked to UNIFY China - pretty much succeeded
--lead army after Sun died 1925 - military officer trained in Nationalist party academy in Moscow
--objective: unification of China
--in middle, bonds btw GMD and CCP ruptured
--Chiang was nervous of comintern and CCP motives...he launched a purge of communists in nationalist held areas
--mild effects of Depression on China

Mao Zedong

leftist - made his own socialist state - marxist revolutionary ideas - made rural communism
--supported peasants - taught that landlords are enemies - led the "people's war" with three stages

The Long March

Chiang wanted to eliminate his internal opponents (Mao's Jiangxi Soviet) - tried to exterminate but Mao's group kept growing - Germany helped Chiang to eliminate communism
--Red army with Mao leading (Oct. 1934) went on 6000 mile Long march from South to Beijing
--communists knew Japan was planning an invasion and used war as propaganda - bc Chiang focused on internal issues, looked like he showed appeasement to Japan
--nationalist leaders arrested Chiang, released as leader - china now at 2nd United front against Japan

Japan won Marco Polo bridge - knew needed to win over China quickly - led Japanese military to do 1st major horror of WWII - Rape of Nanjing
--200-300,000 people slaughtered and raped by Jap. military - foreshadowing of what would come of other cities
--Chinese (nationalists and communists) all gathered in Chongqing city together to unite

March 1st movement

--March 1, 1919
--in Seoul and soon spread throughout the country
--Before the Jap. finally suppressed the movement 12 months later, approximately 2,000,000 Koreans had participated in the more than 1,500 demonstrations. About 7,000 people were killed by the Japanese police and soldiers
--Though the movement failed to bring about its paramount goal of national independence, it was significant in strengthening national unity

WWII and Nazi-Soviet pact

Hitler led Lebensroum (living space) in E Europe
--needed to take Poland needed to convince Stalin that it was in best interest of Soviet and Germ. to share in division of E europe
--signed. nonaggressions pact 1939 - Germ. invade Poland - which triggered declarations of war by Poland's allies (Brit. and Fr.) and WWII Egan in Europe
--Germ. had to remove WWI problem (B AND E) so he attacked France next
--France had prepared a highly militarized zone called the MAGINOT LINE on eastern side...but was ineffective as Germ. surprised and attacked from North through Belgium
--"BLITZKNEG" - lightning war - fast, mobile conflict
--attack from North and French troops fled to UK - Fr. surrendered and Hitler divided country into Germ. occupied part
--Germ. failed in attacking Brit. bc poor airfare -

also bc WINSTON CHURCHILL replaced Camberlain as prime minister - his will during general battle of Britain was turning pt. in rallying Allied cause
--which was a battle of air - Royal Air Force won

Stalingrad and Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa - original name Operation Fritz, during World War II, code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union
--failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war

Hitler surprised Stalin and invaded Soviet 1941 - Soviet initially losing but had better tans and 4x more people - trapped large # of Germans in Stalingrad - Soviet victory was turning pt. in European war
--after was just Germany trying to retreat from each place

USSR successfully defended against Germany - turning pt. in favor of the allies in the war

Final solution

Germ. Supremacist nationalist plan formulated by Hitler to annihilate the Jews through mass extermination - death of 6 Mil. Jews and 2/3 of Euro. Jews

ostarbeiters - Nazi German designation for foreign slave workers gathered from occupied Central and Eastern Europe to perform forced labor in Germany during World War II

Allies aggressions WWII and atomic bomb

took 2.5 years, but adv. manpower and industrial capacity of US was detaining factor
-used US and Brit. airfare to bomb - leaving German cities in ruins
--Germany surrenders May 8, 1945 - VE victory in Europe day

Jap. expanding rapidly in Pacific
--US pres. Harry Truman had 2 experimental atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Soviets then declared war on Jap. and Jap. knew they had lost - surrendered Aug. 1945

Diff. gov. during war periods

constitutionalism and industrialization late 18th/19th century was most visible in Brit, US and Fr. - evolution of nations also involved MODERNITY - which inspired ethnic nationalism and rise of industrial working class (all before WWI)
-after WWI - progressive and modern gov. of capitalist democracy, communism, and supremacist nationalist

ethnic nationalism
--bef. with constitutionalism in B, US and Fr. - ideals of equality - Germ., Italy and Jap. elevated ethnic to supremacist nationalist and adopted imperialism
--Russia: communism used ruins of WWI to turn underdeveloped nation into major industrial empire

capitalist democracy
--free enterprise, market and consumerism - setback in Depression era (wanted new ideas)
--withheld freedom and equality from minorities - comm. industrialized poor nations and provided basic needs of life

supremacist nationalism - attractive to nationalists afraid of communism - constitution was worthless

Munich conference

1938 - Hitler met with representatives of the heads of state from France, the United Kingdom, and Italy
--settlement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia - but he could not attack anywhere else
--Chamberlain and Mussolini for Brit and Italy representing

also later the PACT OF STEEL - when Mussolini and Hitler agreed to work together to form Axis powers - signed to formalize Rome-Berlin alliance

Stepan Bandera

Ukrainian political activist and a leader of the nationalist and independence movement of Ukraine

Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against the Axis forces in the Soviet Union and the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland

Vichy France

Vichy government of France after Germany defeated and occupied it at the beginning of World War II
--Vichy, the capital, is a small city in central France - Vichy government was essentially a puppet of the Germans
--france was divided into two
--occupied zone by Germany (included Paris) - it was N zone
--free zone - in south France that included Vichy

German troops had rolled into the streets of Paris from the northwest today and swung triumphantly down the famous Champs Eylsees - went through and around the Arc de Tromphe

Greater Eat Asia co-prosperity sphere

Pacific theater
--Pacific Ocean theater, during World War II, was a major theater of the war between the Allies and the Empire of Japan
--AM. GENERAL Douglas McArthur played large role in Pacific theater
... In the other major theatre in the Pacific region, known as the South West Pacific theatre, Allied forces were commanded by US General Douglas MacArthur
--after bombing pearl harbor - led to US concentration camps of anyone near pacific from Japanese descent
--TOPAZ internment camp in Utah

firebombed Tokyo and atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
--Soviet invaded Manuchuria (Jap. occupied) - Jap. surrendered

ending the war

--United States and allied troops invaded at Normandy. This was the largest air, land, and sea invasion in history. The goal was to surprise Germany, but Germany was ready to fight. It was the beginning of the end of World War II

causes of WWII

Rise of fascism and socialism in Europe and militarist dictatorship in Japan
--German and Japanese ambitions to expand - nationalism and racial ideology a large part of this
--cult of offensive remains intact thanks to new technologies

Germany and Italy also helped with Spanish civil war in Spain - supporting the nationalists
--war btwn nationalists and republicans

more global in scope than WWI and more deadly
--55-50 million military personnel, including 5 million German soldiers dead
--20-25 soviet dead
--400,000 US soldiers
--10 million chinese
-5-6 million Jews

results of WWII
--German and Japanese empires broken up
--Anticolonial movements quickly press for nationalism self-determination
--war crimes rob the west of claims to civilizational superiority
--United Nations born to avert future wars
--fascism discredited
--Cold War emerges

31. Holocaust (genocide definition)

(UN) - "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group"
--case law has defined "part" as a substantial part of the group

--destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war

--another term for the Holocaust
--Hebrew for "catastrophe"

--an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe

Cesare Lombroso - Italian physician - father of criminology
--theory of the “born” criminal dominated European and American thinking about the causes of criminal behavior during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth
--book: criminal man
--book: the female offender

--according to Francis Galton - "the study of all agencies under human control which can improve or impair the racial quality of future generations"

Protocols of the elders of zion

First Zionist congress, Basel, 1897
--World Zionist Congress established by Theodor Herzl, is the supreme organ of the World Zionist Organization and its legislative authority. It elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency

Protocols of the elders of Zion was a famous book
--antisemitic fabricated text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination

targets of Nazi cleansing campaigns (other than Jews)

--order police - mainly in Poland Reserve Police Battalion 101

--Jehovah's witnesses
--Republican spaniards

32. The Cold War - United Nations

Many smaller countries struggle with influence of Cold War and decolonization
--ethnic and religious conflict, superpower pressure, and nation building in competitive env.

WWII - use of 1st atomic bombs, 50M deaths, most destructive war

--conference, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt discussed Europe's postwar reorganization. The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany

--3rd of meetings btw 3 superpowers
--agree on free elections in Eastern Europe - also blame Germany

--replaced league of nations 19455 - 200 countries with general assembly meeting annually
--security council with permanent members (US, FR, BRIT, RUSSIA, CHINA) and 5 rotating members

Cold War

as world rebuilt from WWII ruins - US and Russia promoted their version of modernity: capitalist democratic and comm.
--did not want direct confrontation so expansion and conflict through "proxy" states
--russia wanted "socialism in one country" - now including E Euro. - wants to extend influence to Africa and Asia

don't know beg. of Cold War - tensions btw US and USSR rise with beg. of Bolshevik revolution - concerns of expanding communism
--also 1945, Soviet army made secret deal with Brit. Churchill to give Greece to Brit. but Bulgaria and Romania to Russia (Germ. prev. occupied) - Churchill called "iron curtain" crossing Europe (growing communism)

Truman doctrine
Marshall plan

containment policy - US policy 1946 to limit spread of comm. when possible - confrontations
--taught by George F. Kennan - Am. diplomat
--nikolai novikov was the soviet diplomat who wrote a telegram stressing the dangers of possible U.S. economic and military domination worldwide

Truman doctrine - 47 policy 0 outline steps directed to prevent Greece and Turkey from becoming comm. - through military and Econ. aid

Marshall plan - fin. program of $13B to support reconstruction of 17 Euro. economics - most aid to Fr. Brit, Italy and netherlands
--Stalin rejected aid and forbade Hungary, Czech. and Poland to ask for it
--needed free mkt and convertible currencies - so contradicted comm. central command economy idea

Berlin Blockade
Warsaw Pact

Marshal plan also made people capable of fleeing to W part of Germany which irritated Stalin - set up highway/rail blockade of food/supplies to Berlin - US and brit. respond with Berlin airlift
--gail halvorsen - candy bomber
--GDR - German democratic republic (EAST)
--FRG - Federal Republic of Germany (WEST)

soon military involve bc Soviet Inc efforts to build nuclear bomb - US now did not have advantage with nuclear weapons

NATO - US created defensive alliance called North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949

Russia responds with Warsaw Pact - 1955 among eastern bloc states

use CIA for spy missions, eavesdropping, assassination plots and photographs

Korean war

Election of 1948 - dispute over holding separate elections in the south

june 1950 - NK comm. troops attacked SK for forcible unification
--UN branded NK an aggressor and uN intervened to help SK - fought through to Chin. border
--Stalin aided Chin. to help NK and Chin. comm. pushed UN back
--eisenhower did not want to use nuclear weapons - made agreement to stall fire with NK - no treaty ever signed

Joseph McCarthy - Wisconsin senator - said he had list of members of comm. party - ruined careers and lives of 100s of gov. employees, celebrities and private people

Nikita Khrushchev

E Germ = Stalin, W Germ = republic and berlin divided into E and W - E upset bc west experiencing economic boom and E had shortages and quotas - the worker begin uprisings and strikes
--called the "ECONOMIC MIRACLE" - The Miracle on the Rhine, describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II

Khrushchev - succeeded Stalin - replaced Stalinists in "Comm.bloc" with new people to improve living conditions - he was tough to west, but supported all anti-colonial independence movements
--reforms gave hope for change in E Europe
--Hungary and Poland divided btw nationalist/reformers and stalinists
--withdrew from Warsaw Pact - but forces intervened and stopped it

Soviet tech. adv. - ICBM (1st intercontinental ballistic missile) - could reach Am.East Coast
--and Sputnik - 1st orbiting sattelite - also sent Yuri Gagarin into space, first cosmonaut to go

Fidel Castro

1959 - nationalist guerilla fighter opposed to Am. influence in countries with "corrupt gov." seized power in Cuba
--CUBA became symbol of Kroshchev gov. openness toward national liberation movements
--soviet gave lots of $ to cuban economy - Castro embraced communism
--Eisenhower and CIA worked to train anti-comm. dissidents, especially in gautemala to overthrow Castro
--JFK took place and sent independent freedom fighters wit no direct US military support to CUBA - easily defeated - bay of pigs invasion

61 - soviet built Berlin Wall - turned German democratic republic into a prison

Postwar E Europe

E Soviet bloc - adhered strictly to soviet policies and rigidly controlled by state central;ozatopm by comm. party in Moscow - secret police
--industriliaztion inc. but shortages and rationing goods was common
--soviet propaganda, media sensored, W culture condemned

1st direct confrontation US and Soviet was 1962 - US spy plane discovers missiles in Cuba - JFK orders destruction and naval blockade so Russia could not send more to Cuba
--Russia recalled ships and Kennedy removed missiles from Turkey
--signed the NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY 1963 - ban above ground testing of nuclear weapons

KIRCHEN DEBATE - VP Nixon and Khrushchev debate about capitalism and communism in the middle of a kitchen 1959

End of cold war

result victory for democracy and capitalism
--despite nuclear ban treaty, US and Soviet still enemies - both cont. to upgrade tech. and weapons

--60s/70s - French word for "release of tension"
--downplaying of overt aggression and pursuit of competition through diplomatic, social, and cultural means
--in end, Soviet's resources were not sufficient to outlast west
--detente ends with Egyptian and Syrian attack on Israel - Arab-Israel conflict beg. - soviet support OPEC oil boycott on US - Soviet also support N Vietnam final push to take S Vietnam after us withdrew forces

Soviet Failures in Cold war

1. Sino-Soviet split 1960 (took our aid from China)
2. Berlin wal was propaganda failure
3. backing down in cuban missile crisis - led Soviet's to oust Khrushchev as leader - the soviet Politburo released ear

to be at peace
1 treaty - discourage development of nuclear weapons
2. additional protection and security for missile defense
3. direct telephone link btwn White House and Kremlin so could warn if accident or false attack signal

Prague spring

Leonid Brezhnev took Khrushchev place in Soviet - lots of dissent in his era, as many countries wanted relaxed attitude on criticism of regime, market reforms, attention to consumer demands, and limited trade with west

prague spring
--1968 - dissent in direct force in Czech. - Alexander Dubcek came to power - wanted decentralized admin. structure, relaxed censorship, opposition political parties
-under Breszchnev - sent Warsaw Pact forces to oust Dubcek and install Husak to replace and end reforms

Brezhnev doctrine
--ended dissent for a time
-right of Soviets and Warsaw Pact to forcibly restrain any member country attempting to abandon alliance with soviet union

2nd wave feminism

60s and 70 - 1st wage achieved suffrage
--Cold War inspired movement for equality in gender
--remove restrictions on reproduction and sexual freedoms - dec. laws on contraception and abortion
--also push for equal pay for equal work and social freedom to pursue careers outside the home

Simone de Beauvoir
--laid the foundation for modern feminism

Betty Friedan
--The Feminine Mystique (1963),
--explored idea of women finding personal fulfillment outside of their traditional roles
--adv. women's rights movement as one of the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

Supranational organizations

international group or union in which the power and influence of member states transcend national boundaries or interests to share in decision making and vote on issues concerning the collective body
--example UN
--International monetary fund
--world bank
--general agreement on tariffs and trade
--European coal and steel community

European coal and steel community

1952 - (ECSC), administrative agency established by a treaty
--designed to integrate the coal and steel industries in western Europe
--original members of the ECSC were France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg

McDonald's peace theory
--indicative of how trade could cause peace
--two countries with McDonalds will not go to war

the thaw

Thaw in the Cold War: Eisenhower and Khrushchev at Gettysburg. Perhaps a change of scene would make a difference. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev, opposing leaders of the United States (U.S.) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) at the height of the Cold War in 1959, had reached an impasse

Red army faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang)

Red army Faction (Germany)
-- West German radical leftist group formed in 1968 and popularly named after two of its early leaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof
--Baader-Meinhof Gang
--kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer 1977

Red Brigade (Italy)

33. East Asia after WWII

Asia experience rapid pop. growth and urbanization - although political independence in America...Asia still had dominant colonialism - Brit and Fr. had holds so all independence movements failed at 1st

China and Great Leap fwd

peasant based economy - Mao interpreted marxism and China depended on aid of Stalin - with Khrushchev, Soviets withdrew all advisors from hina
--WWII ends with severed alliance of comm. under Mao Zedong and nationalists under Chiang K'ai Seek - comm. at advantage
--the US withdrew, hyperinflation, Chiang fled and China became New People's Republic of China by Mao vision and modern communism - "China stood up"

no opposing parties - if "rightist" beliefs - forced "reeducation" in prisons - focus on agriculture and land reforms

Great leap forward
--rapidly transform Chin from agrarian economy to socialist society - rapid industrialization and collectivization
--failed - peasants land confiscated and MAJOR famine - 30 M died

WWII many counties I ruins - varieties of communism - underdeveloped and in poverty - looking to examples of communist countries (China and Soviet) showed poor countries could quickly become rich and powerful (capitalism was uncertain) - also Marx claims capitalism and imperialism causes underdevelopment

Great Proletarian Cultural revolution in China

Mao calls on the youth to rededicate themselves to a continuous revolution
--Cultural revolution - socio-political movement by Mao that purged remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and reimposed Maoist thought at the dominant ideology within the communist party
--students formed squads of red guards and attacked their teaches, bosses and elders - millions of red guards met in Beijing where Mao addressed them in TIANANMEN SQUARE
--bruned Buddhist statues
--when cultural revolution officially over, millions were murdered by red guars - led country to chaos - cultural revolution led to a civil war so Mao declared it over

when Mao died - set up new open door policy to western expertise - study abroad - allow mkt. forces of capitalism to encourage innovation - "responsibility system" - experiments of capitalism - market incentives - rapidly approached self-sufficiency by 80s, surpluses in 90s and 2010 surpassed Japan as 2nd largest economy in the world -GDP double digits!!

Tiananmen Square massacre

pro-democracy protest took place in Beijing after death of leader Hu Yaobang 89
--People's army shot the protestors - massacre
--today still don't know the number killed

People's revolution ARMY - Beijing
--People's Liberation Army, Unified organization of China's land, sea, and air forces. It is one of the largest military forces in the world
--Nanchang Uprising of the communists against the Nationalists
--initially called the Red Army, it grew under Mao Zedong

Vietnam War

Vietnam had constitution and president in office after former President was overthrown
--had US support, but gov. had complaints of corruption and no popular support...fell to communists 1975
--64 - US supported S Vietnam naval rid on 2 N Vietnamese islands provoked N Vietnam retaliation with torpedo boats against American ships in Gulf of Tonkin
--1968 - N attacked South Vietnamese capital - Am. and SV attacked back - it was seen as ineffective, loss and many Americans did not want to participate - Pres. Nixon world too negotiate to end war - Am. exit left SV to become united with NV under communist rule

battle of Saigon - final

Khmer Rouge

Cambodian revolutionary group
--most of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos was devastated after fighting and bombing
--communists in the dominant ethnic group Khmers launched radical program of urban depopulation, forced labor, and mass killing against religious and political opponents - 1/3 of countries pop. killed as a result
--Pol Pot lead genocides - Vietnam invaded and then China invaded Vietnam in response

Economic developments in Jap. and SK

Hideki Tojo war crimes trial
--Japanese prime minister - chief of staff in Manchuria
--as prime minister, Tojo approved the attack on Pearl Harbor and was responsible for all aspects of the war effort

Economic developments in Jap. and SK
domino theory

Hideki Tojo war crimes trial
--Japanese prime minister - chief of staff in Manchuria

dominio theory
--the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall

Japan rec. new constitution in 1947

Ho Chi Minh
Deng Xiaoping

Ho Chi Minh
--Nationalist revolutionary Ho Chi-Minh was president of North Vietnam from 1954 to 1969. He ranks among the most famous and influential politicians of the 20th century
--travelled to southern China to organise a revolutionary movement among Vietnamese exiles, and in 1930 founded the Indo-Chinese Communist Party (ICP). He spent the 1930s in the Soviet Union and China
--Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War
--significant turning point in Indochina. The battle was fought between the French and the Vietminh (Vietnamese Communist and nationalist). The French wanted to reclaim Vietnam as one of their colonies, while the Vietnamese wanted their independence
--lots of French POW after this battle
--HO CHI MING declared Vietnamese independence on day of Jap. surrender - helped draft Vietnamese declaration of independence

Deng Xiaopig
--Chinese communist leader, who was the most powerful figure in the People's Republic of China from the late 1970s until his death in 1997

34. Decolonization in South Asia and Africa

Indian partition

after WWI nationalist forces arose - war had diminished holdings of Fr. and Brit. in several colonies - they were seeking independence from Brit. and French and individually rec. it - major countries each began to decolonize

Ghandi wanted an Indian nation with a constitution that would trump any ethnic or religious identities...but Muslims wanted religious nationalism and a separate state to themselves...same with Hindus
--Brit. negotiators listened to Islamic religious nationalists and accepted independence with partition
--India and Pakistan became separate independent countries
--quickly had to relocate to new homes....300,00 Indians died in the violent process - included Ghandi who was killed by an assassin

Jawaharlal Nehru

India's first prime minister - worked to tie subcontinent's disparate constituencies together into a united gov.
-local princes surrender their realms to the national gov.
--adopted Brit. court systems and parliamentary - new modern gov. of socialism
--adopted 5 year plan of development in India. - agriculture and industrialization
--inc. famine and poverty problems

Nehru argued that poverty could only be overcome by rapid industrialization by state and its financial power

non-aligned movement

one of the most momentous events in post war efforts was dismantling of colonial empires from western powers and their becoming new nation states
--problems with poverty, developmental gaps and ethnic/religious conflicts
--25 prev. colonial countries met int a conference 1955 in Indonesia
--agreed on Afro-asian solidarity and cooperation and opposed colonialism by Amy country
--adopted a 10point declaration of world peace and cooperation

became official policy of India - still in existence today
--sought to maintain neutrality in the Cold War and was successful in maintaining its own course independent from western and Soviet blocs

India took a capitalist democratic constitutionalism with private property and guided socialist state investments

NON ALIGNE MOVEMENT - an international, anti colonialist movement that promoted the interests of countries not aligned with the superpowers

Kwame Nkrumah

Leader of Ghana
--Brit. decided to decolonize and they sought independence - supported nationalist groups that adopted Brit. inspired constitutions and abided by British rules
--Ghana - healthy economy and vital middle class
--Nkrumah was huge advocate for African independence
--2 years into his rule...he discarded the original independence constitution and created a mew republican constitution, removing the country from British Commonwealth
--one year later he turned to socialist state planning
--lader changed Ghana to one party state with Nkrumah himself a leader for life
--eventually too much foreign debt an CIA and army ousted Nkrumah 1966

Mau Mau movement

in face of British opposition, African nationalists formed the Mau Mau movement, resorted to aterrorist attacks on British states
--first instated in Kenya - finally granted independence

Patrice Lumumba

Congo - colonized by Belgium - revolutionist argued with each other - some were nationalists and some supported centralized state
--Patrice Lumumba founded the urban and mine work erased National Congolese Movement - wanted a centralized constitutional nationalism that transcended ethnicity, language and religion
--Belgium wanted to cont. as was..but after riots put Lumumba in prison - later released, national elections had centralists won - Lumumba became prime minister and Congo became independence with a new president
--internal problems and Lumumba turned to UN for help...UN restored order - then Lumumba turned to soviet for help - worried about Cold War beg. in Africa and that lumumba was new Castro
--Belgian and Am. gov. intervened (to avoid spread of comm.) and Lumumba removed

Joseph Mobutu

replaced Lumumba as prime minister of Congo - became a dictator of Congo and was close ally of US during his power - worked with Nixon
--he had Lumumba arrested and executed

after decolonization and independence movements Africa...the problem turned to be development - hard bc so many examples to turn to and adopt...normally applied same principles of their former colonial regimes...used when they were colonies
---diff. also bc they were competing in markets for these products against so many other former colonies at same time

Robert Mugabe

System of social and legal segregation by race enforced by the gov. of South Arica from 1948 - 94
---used in South Africa bc lots of settlers there from the colonies they came from!
--this relegated blacks to a legal second-class status

it was opposed by several black political organizations - liked ANC - African National Congress - campaigned for ending Apartheid
--international boycotts - communism collapsed and new president worked to dismantle apartheid
--ANC was legalized and became South Africa's largest political party - led by NELSON MANDELA (who had been inprisoned for almost 3 years) - 91 all apartheid laws repealed, 92 racial equality in voting
--94 first multiracial elections held and Mandela became president of new South Africa.

Algerian war of independence

from France
--movement for independence began during World War I (1914–18) and gained momentum after French promises of greater self-rule in Algeria went unfulfilled after World War II (1939–45). In 1954 the National Liberation Front (FLN) began a guerrilla war against France and sought diplomatic recognition at the UN to establish a sovereign Algerian state
--Charles de gaulle was leader of France

National Liberation front (FLN)
--political party in Algeria
--ought to reconcile the warring factions of the nationalist movement and to wage war against the French colonial presence in Algeria

35. radicalism in third world

Latin Am.
rapid pop. growth after war
--massive rural pop,, large middle class, limited industrialization
--hurt by dec. commodity export markets in depression - but no impact from WWII bc not involved - large growth in urbanization but also inc. in poverty levels

these countries gained their independence in 2 waves
1. after WWI due to local pressures

2. during Cold War - as each realized Brit. and Fr. could not hold their colonies in a world dominated by America and the Soviet Union

Partition of Palestine 1947

WWII ended and Palestine diff. for Britain
--Palestinian-Zionist impasse - Britain turned question on Palestine independence to UN
--developed partition plan and Israel later declared independence too

--was a signed stmt. that Britain would help establish a Jewish home in Palestine

Gamel Abdel Nasser

Egyptian Colonel - bitter toward Egyptian royalty and landowner who supported them - bc netter had done much for the country to support during the war
--"free officers" led by Nasser took power, closed down parliament and sent king to exile - bloodless and little reaction in streets
--Nasser made himself President
--muslim nation in Egypt

the 6 day war

For Palestinian Arabs...the rise of Israel was "the disaster" - 1000s were displaced since 1948 and waiting to return
--during Cold War, Arabs saw Israel as Arab territory
--Arab nationalism resembled socialism and Soviet's supported

Yasir arafit formed the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO) who began guerrilla war against Israel
--Egypt closed the Gulf to Israel shipping - prevented importing of Oil
--the Pres. Nasser relied on secret information
--local Muslim forces called on war with Israel

June - Israel attacked Arab forces and had overwhelming advantage in numbers - took out Arab armor and ground troops in six-day war - conquered West Bank, Golan heights, and Sinai peninsula - the territories belonging to Jordan, Syria and Egypt
--Israel was in state of expansion

Muslims later attacked on Israel holy day, Yom Kippur - Israel defeated Aran armies - cease fire called by UN - but US and Soviet were supporting both sides - Arab oil producers and Iran launched oil embargo on US - increased gasoline prices in US

later moved base from Jordan to Lebanon
--Lebanon was politically Christian dominant but pop. dominant as muslim (divided into Shiite and Sunni)- this led to a war between Christians and PLO - later evolved to Christians vs. Muslims and Christians were losing

Iranian Islamic Revolution

Shah Reza Pahlavi - was driven into exile by urban demonstrations
--he had held a monarchy and started the white revolution - to bring agricultural reforms and inspire industrial growth

Khomeini took power after returning from exile - reeled on The Islamic Government book to stage Iranian revolution
--he ruled by the Quran and Islamic tradition - Iranian women follow dress code, men and women are gender segregated
--have constitution for elections for President...but ultimate authority goes to a "spiritual guide" who is selected

Iran hostage crisis
--52 US diplomats and citizens held hostage for 444 days from 1979- 1981

Saddam Hussein

during Iranian revolution - he was president of Iraq and decided to invade the oil rich Khuzistan
--started the Iran-Iraq war - UN eventually intervened and Pres. Jimmy Carter ended it

President Salvador Allende

60s - Latin America had achieved independence but had economical worries
--US had fought and enforced elections in Nicaragua (Jacobo Árbenz was 2nd democratic elected president) and El Salvador
--Salvador Allende was president of Chile - he had many opposing ideas to Chile - and Nixon and CIA supported his opposers and had him removed

Cuban revolution and the Argentine dirty war

--Che Guevara was a communist in Argentina - he was a military advisor to Castro in Cuban revolution
--Cuban revolution ended in overthrow of Gov. - placed Castro as leader of comm. Cuba

Argentine dirty war
--Juan Peron was president of Argentina and wanted Peronist movement - back to ideas his political ideas
-the war was initiated by military junta that overthrew authoritarian regime of the perons in Argentina
-real and alleged leftist Argentinians were kidnapped, imprisoned and killed - victims called the "disappeared"
--still searching for man y tortured, killed disappeared people - and those who led this act are in prison today

--Group in PERU who wanted to overthrow the democratic gov. and replace with communism

Jose Figueres Ferrer - was president of Costa Rica

Outcome of 60s to 91

at first Cold War had contest btwn capital democracy and various forms of communism-socialism
--in end, bc of US power ninth west - Soviet worn down
-China changed from radical leftist programs to capitalist style of market economics
--many countries looking for a mixture of the 2 o a 3rd alternative
--Soviet adopted democratic political values and introduced capitalism
--culture and ideology played large role in growth of Latin America and Africa - believed progress was possible and made great strides - almost allAsian countries developed and grew

Israel-Arab wars

Arab-Israeli war 1947-8
--established Israel as an independent country

56 Suez canal
--Israel briefly seized Sinai Peninsula and Gaza strip

67 - 6 day war
--Israel defeated Egypt, sYRIA AND jORDAN
--rec. sinai peninsula, gaza strip, West Bank and Golan Heights

73 - Yom Kippur War
--Israel defeats a Arab coalition

Chador - traditional garment worn by women
--Burqa - full veil and coverage worn that hides eyes and entire head and face

Banana republic

banana republic
--In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the exportation of a limited-resource product, e.g. bananas, minerals (Honduras)

Pope John Paul II - Became first ever non-Italian pope in 1978

36. end of Cold War - Afghan - Soviet war

made agreement called START to end US and Soviet development of nuclear weapons and decrease some of them

--1979 - Soviet invaded Afghanistan and put in Communist leader with massive military force to back him up
--Pres. Ronald Reagan - began developing Strategic Defense initiative called "star wars" to work on missiles and defense - strategic arms race with Russia'
--but cost of Afghanistan war and arms race was too much for Russia

1972 - Nixon visited China - open relations with China to gain leverage over Soviet Union

Michael Gorbachev

Replaced Brezhnev
--called for large reforms: bc facing costly Afghan war, arms race, inefficient economy
--launched two economic programs:

1. PERESTROIKA - "restructuring" of soviet bureaucracy and economic structure in attempt to make it more efficient and responsive to market demand
--factories could see to market...not give all to state - did not work as intended...still shortages - but led way to rise of capitalism

2. GLASNOST - "openness" - attempt to loosen restrictions on media in Soviet Union with aim of more accurate reporting of events and creation of socialist pluralism

Lech Walesa and fall of communism and Berlin Wall

--all countries in Soviet Bloc were in heavy debt from oil imports - Russia oil price collapsed and debts worsened - protest in each of the companies

Communist party in Poland permitted first free elections in over 40years and Lech Wales was elected Poland's first president 1990 - solidarity won in Poland

later GDR East Ger, protests led to fall of Communism and Berlin Wall in the same night 1989

by 89 - most of the 15 states occupied by Soviet had declared independence and freed from communism - Gorbachev agreed with state presidents

Soviet Union ended on Christmas qDay 1991 - replaced by commonwealth of Independent states

On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident happened at the Chernobyl plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere. ... Plant operators made several mistakes, creating a poisonous and unstable environment in the reactor core
--is the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power to cause fatalities from radiation - soviet error

Reykjavik Sumit 1986

The Reykjavik summit meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev on October 11-12, 1986 has remained in history as a near successful attempt of leaders of nuclear powers to agree on complete elimination of nuclear weapons
--Mikhail Gorbachev won nobel peace prize in 1990

after Soviet fell and communism destroyed - US was superpower

1. bc US dollar functioned as currency for all oil sales and purchases
2. its giant consumer economy - US functioned as world's favored destination for manufactured goods
--US became country to which everyone wanted to export - US had helped lots of countries in Asia to develop - thinking if they were prosperous they would be less susceptible to communism

America became leader in High tech industry - introduced IT (info. tech.) so cell phones, music, entertainment and services in hands of consumers

GLOBALIZATION process - Bill Clinton - many countries still displayed protectionism - low consumption of goods which hurts global trade - globalization is process of integrating norms of market economies throughout the world and binding economies into a single uniform system

US trying to help by the motto "stabilize, privatize and liberalize" to emerging nations

US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

national security wanted to prevent countries from establishing dominance in a region and destroy terrorism against US
--Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and sought dominance over middle eastern oil exports - George bush and UN sent US troops to Iraq
--UN and US stopped Saddam Hussein's efforts to acquire nuclear and chemical weapons - they were successful in destroying but Hussein did his best to pretend he still possessed them
--Bush sent in forces to invade and inspect - Iraq fell quickly and found no weapons

--US also responding to rise of Muslim terrorism
--AL QUADA ("the base") under leadership of Osama Bin laden emerged as principle international terrorist group
--Al Quada campaign climaxed on 9/11 when suicide commandos hijacked 4 commercial airlines and crashed in to world trade centers twin towers in NYC, Pentagon outside Washington DC and field in Penn.
--US troops invaded Afghanistan in response - tried to eliminate Bin Laden, who was protected by the Israel Taliban - drove al Qaida terrirusts terrorists to Pakistan - took 10 years to track down Bin Laden and kill him (2011)

Rwandan civil war

90s and 2000s the UN fulfilled vital peace missions
--but failed in Rwandan civil war 1994 - peacekeeping troops serving under UN stood by has HUTU ethnic majority massacred the Tutsi ethnic minority

Vladimir Putin

russia defaulted in internal bonds and external loans
--GDP dropped by half in 1990s
--Vladimir Putin became president of Russia - autocracy - Russia still years from market rules and comprehensive market economy
--Putin curtailed civil rights - restricted press freedom and made it diff. for NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) and human rights movements to operate in Russia
--when Ukrainian president was overthrown 2014 - Putin seized opportunity to seize Crimea Ukraine

two recessions in West and economic inequality

1. dot-com crise - 2001-3 bc speculations of expansion of the internet
2. 2008-11 - collapse of housing market

economic inequality
--many white workers lost jobs in 2nd recession - huge gap in classes

now had fear of Islamism - reformed Sunni or Shiite islam of 20th century to. define all institutions of the state and society

Civil war I Yugoslavia

Went through economic collapse like Russia
--communism was main ideology in Yugoslavia until 1980s - the country had borrowed heavily from western countries to keep industries from collapsing during oil price slump
--led to religious nationalist hatred - led by small ethnic groups - Serb supremacist nationalist wanted to "Cleanse" minorities from greater Servian territory
--UN and US worked to stop them from murdering muslims and Albanians
--separete to 5 Yugoslavia states of capitalism and democracy - struggling

It was the Islamic Resistance Movement
--short term goal was to liberate Palestine, including modern-day Israel, from Israeli occupation
--long-term aim sought to establish an Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea

Israel was at peace in 94 with Arab neighbors Egypt and Jordan
--but gov. had to protect from Hostile guerrilla attacks - built a border fence on Gaza Strip 2005
=--Hamas ruled Gaza and split with PLO - Israel invaded Gaza which destroyed a lot of Palestinian pop. in Gaza - but Hamas was not defeated

New President in Iran, Hasan Rouhan - signed treaty with US and UN 2015 to sirgn nuclear deal dand stop building nuclear bombs for 15 years

Arab Spring 2011

Prior to this, Turkey was cited model for compatability of Islam and democracy in middle east
--but Arab nations went under constitutional revolutions - Egypt
--Mohamad Bouazizi set himself on fire in act of despair by humiliations inflicted on him by Tunisian policewoman - his death led to several peaceful democratic revolutions called Arab Spring
--pro-democracy protests - carried about by social networking sites (Twitter, FB, YouTube) - internet is a product of the Cold War
--gained power but could not translate it into electoral victories
--elections each brought Islamist parties to power

in Syria - hoped of Arab spring crushed immediately
--led to civil war in Syria by pro-democracy protestors

THE FIRST INTIFADA - Was uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation of West Bank - Israel kills many Palestinians

--Second Intifada started in September 2000, when Ariel Sharon made a visit to the Temple Mount, also known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, an area sacred to both Jews and Muslims. ... It is the holiest site in Judaism and it is the right of every Jew to visit the Temple Mount

ISIS - Islamic state in Iraq and al-Sham
--pristine Islam of Quran and Sunna
--brutality - led by former Al Qaeda operative - built a state in NE Syria
--ISIS troops attacked Iraq 2014 -

global and industrial changes

1800 - Britain was only country embarking on industrialization - now 196 independent countries in the world are industrialized or on the way - the obstacle is poverty - or ignorance and lack of education in poor countries
--also debate on global warming - many claim greenhouse gases are to blame - chemical compounds and carbon dioxide in the air - don't know of global warming is natural phenomenon or human produced - this may destroy ice caps as they melt and lead to overflowing in ocean levels rise - cover islands and coasts - droughts

China accepted industrialization by expanding middle classes, investment and innovation
--but did not allow multiparty system

terror attacks in Europe

Moscow theater attack 2002

Madrid train bombings

Berlin school attack

bombings and shootings

Frankfurt airport

Charlie Hebdo attacks 2015
--attacks in Paris

November paris attacks 2015

Bastille day attacks 2016

Brussels bombings 2016

development of human rights

--individual freedom
--anti-torture/anti-slavery movements

--rise of nationalism trumps human rights
-Horror ofWW1/Holocaust
-UN declaration of 1948

Supranational organization and nongovernmental organization

--ogranization of sovereign states united for same purpose - UN. NATO
--NAFTA - The North American Free Trade Agreement, abbreviated NAFTA, is an agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico that eliminated tariffs and duties on trade between the three countries

Nongov. organization (NGO)
--a non-profit organization standing outside the sphere of gov. devoted to a particular cause
---International Red Cross (Nobel peace prize 3 years)
--amnesty international (1977 NPP)
--Doctors without borders (1971 NPP)
--Human rights watch

Biafran conflict


12/31/2015 10:06 am ET Updated Dec 06, 2017

Action on Climate Change Creates a Circle for Health and Economic Growth

Joint comment: Incoming chairwoman of Gavi Alliance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and WHO Assistant Director General Dr Flavia Bustreo

With climate finance as a key lever in the Paris accord, countries concerned with the costs of a low-carbon development pathway may borrow a page from the playbook of health finance experiences. Societies that invest in low carbon growth will likely emerge as those with the healthiest and most productive workforce according to our authors.

As negotiations in Paris drew to a resolution earlier this month, developing countries' concerns about having carbon "space" for development and the notion of "differentiated responsibilities" for cutting carbon emissions were common refrains. Similarly, fulfilment of a pledge by developed countries to invest at least $100 billion annually in low-carbon and renewable technologies needed by developing countries is regarded as essential to the agreement's future success.

Now that the treaty has been signed, however, some broader reflections on its economic implications might be useful drawing from experiences and lessons learned in a linked, but still under-recognized arena of climate impacts, and that is the health sector.

Its apparent that health and climate are inextricably linked. The same inefficient fuel and energy technologies driving CO2 emissions are also driving a rising toll of air pollution emissions - which stands at some 7 million premature deaths every year. Tens of thousands of people die every year from direct climate impacts, including heat exposures, severe weather, drought and under-nutrition, and climate-sensitive diseases. And those numbers will rise sharply in the face of inaction, posing huge costs for developed and developing economies.

But what's equally important - and yet often ignored - is that countries that take the most assertive action to reduce climate pollutants of all sorts - short and long-lived - may also benefit the most health-wise, socially, very immediately, and in terms of their economic growth.

Start with the basics
Let's start with the basics. Healthy workers are generally more productive than unhealthy ones, and thus healthy populations support economic growth. Between 2000 and 2011, almost one quarter of real income growth in low- and middle-income countries resulted from a healthier population and workforce.

Much of this gain can be traced to the huge new investments in key disease control campaigns over the past several decades - including dramatically stepped-up access to vaccines, anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDs, and antimalarials. These investments led by the global health sector included reduced prices for essential medicines, vaccines and medical technologies, deemed essential to combat diseases that stunted and threatened development in low- and middle-income countries, and even globally.

Such investments proved to be highly cost-effective because of the lives saved and the disease toll avoided. Rates of HIV/AIDs infection, malaria and other neglected diseases of poverty are on the decline.

Now, as the world grapples with the challenges related to climate change ecosystem impacts, direct health impacts of extreme weather and rising temperatures, and also a rising epidemic of non-communicable disease (NCD), a similarly "health-conscious" campaign of smart growth strategies in the energy, transport, housing and other sectors can tackle all three factors at once, for a triple benefit.

Air pollution--driven by many of the same dirty energy sources as climate change - is a key factor in the NCD epidemic. It is responsible for a large share of deaths from heart disease and stroke as well as respiratory diseases and cancers. Indirectly, as well, traffic injuries, physical inactivity and obesity also are linked to carbon-intensive and unsustainable development, particularly in cities.

So low-carbon development strategies can strike at the nerve centre of the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases. Sustainable development in rural areas and "smart cities" can help promote access to clean household sources of energy, and ensure safer, healthier mobility and more physical activity - critical to women and children's health, as well as health throughout the life-course. Reducing air pollution can also boost crop productivity, which is stunted in areas with heavy ozone concentrations, helping to protect food security.

Win-win for national-based actions and economic growth
Countries that do the most may also benefit the most locally and immediately - a real win-win for national based actions, and good news for economic growth.

The savings in health and health care costs enjoyed by shifting to low carbon and renewable energy sources have been estimated in the trillions of dollars by the International Monetary Fund, offsetting by far the costs of new investments. And a healthier population can help spur healthy economic growth - growth delinked from carbon emissions.

In South Africa alone, for example, treatment costs from kerosene-related burns and poisonings have been estimated at nearly US$30 million annually. Switching to cleaner, safer sources of energy could thus generate large, immediate savings that quickly justify new investments in climate adaptation and mitigation projects.

In the longer term, the potential savings in the direct costs of climate-induced human suffering and healthcare costs are, on their own, significant enough to justify major investments now. Nigeria, for instance, faces a greatly increased risk of flooding due to climate change, which by 2030 could affect the health of an additional 801,700 people in a variety of ways including drowning and outbreaks of infectious diseases. Averting or mitigating this risk would also avert the higher health-related costs that go with it.

Given that health is effectively an economic asset for countries working hard to identify fresh financing to address climate change, it is crucial they consider it as a key factor among the actions needed for climate adaptation and the co-benefits of mitigation, as they begin to implement the Paris treaty.

Financing actions on climate change
The ways in which current investments in carbon-intensive growth are resulting in ill-health as well as climate change are well documented by a number of major international reports. A recent study by the International Monetary Fund estimated that fossil fuel combustion is effectively "subsidised" by approximately US $5.3 trillion a year - up from US $2 trillion in 2011 - because polluters rarely pay for the health or environmental damage they cause.

The same study further concluded that placing a "nationally appropriate price on carbon" would cut outdoor air pollution deaths (currently 3.7 million per year) by half, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 20%. This would raise approximately 3% of GDP, or US $3 trillion per year. This revenue could be reinvested in growth-enhancing public spending - for example in health, education and the green economy. It would also save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Health is, in the IMF analysis, key to the arithmetic, accounting for about half of the overall value of the gains from a nationally appropriate carbon price. The reductions would mainly be in deaths and disability from the products of coal combustion.

In reality, the IMF's estimates of the health gains are probably conservative. In addition to the potential lives saved from reducing outdoor air pollution there is strong evidence of the enormous health gains that could be made, for example, by introducing cleaner and more efficient household energy to reduce indoor air pollution (currently estimated at 4.3 million deaths per year), and more sustainable urban transport systems that facilitate walking and cycling, reducing deaths from physical inactivity (currently 3.2 million deaths per year).

Measuring costs and benefits, investing in health
Low- and middle-income countries are well aware of the health and economic benefits from local action against climate change, but some may be discouraged from investing unless the advantages are spelled out during implementation of the new treaty. Conversely, proper recognition could be a catalyst for action.

The first challenge for developing economies is to reject the old technologies and engrained attitudes that have given us polluting and inefficient systems. The second is to select the best and cleanest energy options and to leapfrog inferior or polluting ones. The third is to avoid the narrow view that measures "costs" and "benefits" only as financial transactions. The health community is understandably wary about putting a price on a human life, and takes a rights-based approach that values every person equally.

So, by cutting carbon emissions, countries can save lives and free up huge sums to help finance action against climate change. These are compelling reasons to make health a cornerstone of the work that begins in the new reality introduced by the COP21 Paris Agreement.

For more information on health and climate change, link here to WHO's web, or here for more information on Dr Bustreo's work or link here for more on the Gavi Alliance.


Hi, I 'm Hans,

I am an Engineer and Applied Scientist working on machine intelligence, optimization, control, distributed systems for robotics and user experiences. Most of my implementations are based on node.js, c++, matlab/simulink, react.js, google cloud/aws and docker/unix but I reconsider my tooling and stack with every project and team. I am meticulous about excellence in research, clean implementations and I cultivate an open working style. I appreciate environments where math, physics, software and hardware meet.

Topics I am specifically interested in include algorithm design, cloud design, parallel processing, machine intelligence, control engineering, system design, hardware/software codesign, cpu optimizations, sound engineering, new media art.


ADM suffers grain elevator explosion

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - ADM suffered a minor explosion in a corn and soybean grain elevator.

The explosion took place at approximately 1 A.M.. The explosion caused a fire which was quickly handled with assistance from the Decatur Fire Department.

ADM is currently investigating the cause of the explosion and assessing the damage caused.

No one was injured in the explosion.


Bill Meilen
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Chapter Seven

FERDINAND Leduc paused at the summit and stood wiping sweat from his face and neck with a red bandana, flapping his panama to make some cool air. Ahead, Reynal sat slumped on a rock with Soller and two others standing over him, guns in hand.

Far below, beyond them, he could see the rear of a black limousine parked at the end of a rutted track. There was no sign of life anywhere. Some forty metres away a white marker stone paced out the frontier between France and Spain.

It had been a hard climb. They had come by the old escape route once used by the Resistance to sneak escapees out of France during the War. Very few of those rich Jews reached Spain, he recalled, these mountains are dotted with the graves of rich men who believed that Shangri-La lay just over the next ridge.

Soller walked a few paces from Reynal and stood staring in the direction of the silent Delahaye. Where are they? he thought, Are they not going to come into the open? Turning back he prodded Reynal's shoulder with the muzzle of his Beretta. “Up, and start walking!” Reynal rose with effort, surprised at the way the climb had taken the energy out of him. Mountain climbing had once been a sport to him, but that was when he was younger, fitter, and had not been cooped up in a small area for years. Walking forward he paused at the marker stone.

”What now?” he demanded. Soller came alongside and pointed downhill at the rear of the waiting car.

Reynal suddenly found it hard to focus his eyes. I can see that there is a vehicle standing far below. What game are they playing? Is this a mystery tour? Am I to ride somewhere else? What are they trying to do to me? Suddenly the fog before his vision cleared and he made out the lines clearly. It looks like my own personal Delahaye. But how can that be? All at once it struck him. Spain! I am looking into Spain! Solange is in Spain! This marker is the frontier!

A clack of metal brought the nine heads around simultaneously. Slightly above the party, in a huddle of boulders, Michel Gadda crouched with Schmeisser casually pointed at Soller, while to either side two men in coveralls enfilladed the rest of the party.

A nerve twitched in Soller's cheek, Otherwise he did not turn a hair.

“Lieutenant Gadda,” he said, as if the meeting were taking place on the Boul’ Mich’. “We are a little late, I’m afraid. I did not expect to see you.” He ghosted the Beretta into its holster.

Gadda did not answer. Slowly he rose to a standing position, keeping the muzzle of the submachine-gun rock steady on Soller. Soller sucked his teeth.

“Aren't you a little over-eager?”

Gadda continued to ignore him, signalling the men who were with him down into the cleft. The tough characters ran down the scree to take up positions surrounding the body of barbouzes.


Outback 2: more best day

Outback 2: more best day

After the flight and a hearty breakfast at the Birdsville Bakery, we started out for the desert proper. The Simpson Desert that is; the world's largest sand dune desert.

'The desert' is a term used loosely to describe the remote arid far west of Queensland and beyond to the centre of the Australian continent. For many people, it conjures up an image of sand and dunes rather than treeless stony emptiness. The area that includes Diamantina Shire and northern South Australia has three types of landscape: what is called the 'hard' country, made up of tablelands and downs; the sandy dune fields of the Simpson, Strzelecki and Tirari deserts (the Tirari lies between the Simpson Desert Conservation Park and Regional Reserve† and Lake Eyre National Park in SA); and the channels and ephemeral lakes of the major river systems.

The Simpson Desert covers 176,500 square kilometres – the size of Cambodia or Uruguay – and most of this is in southeastern Northern Territory. The Simpson's 1100 parallel dunes run southeast to northwest, the prevailing wind direction when they were formed 80,000 years ago during the Pleistocene era. They are maintained by the action of wind today, and don't migrate: they are not 'live'. They are at least partly vegetated, and may even carry tallish shrubs or low trees, making them a resilient landform. The crests are often bare and windswept, while the slopes are secured by spinifex and sandhill canegrass. The dunes are roughly a kilometre apart, and the in-between areas are either gibber plains, clay pans or shrubland of acacia or grevillia. Some dunes stretch for 250 kilometres, which is mind-boggling.

A rough track leads west from Birdsville: it is almost indistinguishable from its surroundings. There can be little doubt this is taking remoteness to a new level.

The track is called the QAA Line; but no one seems to know why. A number of 'lines' were constructed in the second half of the 20th century as oil and gas companies sent seismic surveyors into the desert to explore the possibilities. The French Line is fairly self-explanatory – it was constructed by Compagnie Générale de Géophysique – but WAA (which is in South Australia) and QAA defeat the most obvious people I've consulted, such as national park rangers, visitor centre information providers and even our pilot, Ollie. I am, fairly predictably, determined to find the answer, but it may take a while.

I lost count of the number of times we said to each other, 'Is that Big Red?' as we got 30 kilometres or so down the track. Eventually, it was (37 km from Birdsville). The boundary of Queensland's Simpson Desert (Munga-Thirri) National Park is another 38 kilometres further on, and the border with Northern Territory 71 km beyond that. Once you're over Big Red, the track is straight and single-minded.

The National Park, established in 1967, is closed from 1 December until 15 March, when temperatures are considered too extreme (40-50˚C). There are no toilets, camping areas or bushwalking tracks. You are advised to cross the Desert with at least one other vehicle and to carry a satellite phone.

As you would expect in Australia, where information about survival in hostile environments is hugely experience-based and liberally shared, there was ample warning about travelling any further without essential equipment and provisions.

We parked at the bottom of Big Red and walked up to survey the scene. This was not the challenging crossing, at the highest point of the dune, which is further north; no, this was a relatively tame version, just to get you to the other side. My friend was keen to get on: he was intending to cross more than one dune, in fact. His goal was Eyre Creek, 20 dunes down the Line. I was not at all sure about this. He was on a mission to prove to Australian doubters that Land Rover can compete well in such a challenging environment. I wasn't sure about this either. In 2008, Land Rover put our model through its paces in the Simpson Desert on a trek across Australia to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary (see here). I didn't really see why we had to repeat the exercise. But then I am not a boy.

I should perhaps explain here that I did not position the bones, nor have I enhanced the colour of the sand.

Into the desert

Into the desert

The car sailed up and down easily, and we were chuffed and rather excited to be 'doing' the QAA. We'd been told that people often get cocky and get stuck on the second, but we sailed up and over the next dune, too. The third took three attempts, however, bringing us back to reality. After that, we were determined to carry on. Suddenly Eyre Creek didn't seem such a crazy idea.

I've noticed that I only took one photograph before we reached Eyre Creek, which suggests that it took a while for my slight anxiety about the remoteness of this adventure to subside. The car was certainly coping with the dunes, but our destination was beyond the range of our two-way radio. In addition, you have to take a run up and over a dune at a speed that reduces the risk of being slowed and bogged in the sand. You cannot see if anything is approaching up the other side until you've overtopped the crest. It is the law in South Australia but not in Queensland that your car must be fitted with a sand dune flag, which is tall and brightly coloured. In the absence of such, we had to use the horn to herald our approach, which wasn't relaxing.

This is typical of the between-dune vegetation.

We arrived at Eyre Creek, and thought we'd have lunch in the middle of the furthest-west channel, at the furthest west point we've been, travelling from the east coast that is. It was dry, I hasten to add. The pale grey, almost white soil of the creek beds contrasted with the vibrant orange sand.

I could hardly believe what happened next. My friend decided we needed to park in the shade of the creek bed rather than at the side of the track. We came to a sudden halt in deep sand. I was not happy: and certainly not as relaxed as a few moments earlier when our mission had been accomplished. We hadn't seen a car or another living thing since the far side of Big Red. It was very warm. We started taking heavy items out of the car and retrieving the MaxTrax from the box on top. Then there was digging to be done. Lunch was out of the question until we had freed ourselves. You can see on the right of this picture where we got bogged and I had a sense-of-humour failure.

As we packed up, a lone vehicle passed by, heading west. We turned back towards Birdsville. We counted the dunes on the way back, and stopped to photograph vegetation and long vistas.

Big Red got bigger as we got nearer. At its highest point, you have three options: the steepest, shortest and most daunting; a middling route; and a more gradual and winding, slightly wussy way. Or so it appeared from the bottom. But there was a sting in the tail on the crest – a bend. We came to a halt in deep sand as we had to turn sharply almost at the top. At least we were bogged this time with stunning views all around us. The sand was dry and easier to dig away from our almost-disappeared wheels and underside than at Eyre Creek. I definitely don't take pictures at stressful moments.

It had been an adventurous, challenging, exciting, wildly different day, and unquestionably the best of the trip so far. That evening in the Birdsville Hotel bar, we chatted to a man who didn't seem impressed by our 20-dune foray into the Simpson. I'm sure he said he'd driven a 20-year-old Land Rover Defender to Poeppel Corner (where Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory meet) and back in a day – 160 kilometres each way. And that's with a manual gearbox; and no terrain response nor a whole host of stability systems. But nothing could detract from our sense of adventure having been realised. I will never forget either the flight over the Channel Country or venturing into the Simpson Desert, and each will be a hard act to follow.

I've thought a lot more about remoteness during and since this Outback trip. Last year, creeping out of Tibooburra at dawn (see Outback: Tibooburra to Quilpie, July 2013), the sense of aloneness on a closed road was perplexing. Usually, a landscape devoid of anything much at all, and certainly help-less, is exciting and invigorating. In difficult terrain or with bad weather threatening, it can quickly be transformed into a much more daunting prospect. I can well understand, however, how people get hooked, and embark on more and more outlandish capers.

Several times I have done what I thought at the time was really remote: Death Valley in California; the Negev in southern Israel; the highlands of northwest Scotland; the southern Mani peninsula in Greece; the Bardenas Reales in Navarra, Spain. Few of these combined difficult terrain with uncomfortable weather, a problem of some sort and an absence of emergency services. (On reflection, Death Valley came close: a 2-3-hour journey in a car with no breaks and high-40s heat!)

How far will you step outside your comfort zone for the anticipation of adventure, a frisson of fear, and a post-thrill endorphin rush?

† South Australia has regional reserves and conservation parks as well as national parks

This despicable government

Outback 2: the best day

Outback 2: the best day


2019 Happy New Year!

James Marshall
Deputy Director, Federal Benefits Institute
National Active & Retired Federal Employees Association

I’ll reemphasize the importance of first sending folks to the actual host government source web sites (i.e. OPM, Social Security, TSP, Medicare, etc.), especially in regards to making sure folks use the most up-to-date forms and processes.  But other web sites (such as NARFE.org) can be useful when trying to help someone understand “government speak”, expanding on a topic that the government web site doesn’t explain very well, or helping someone locate a difficult-to-find answer to their question.
When I speak with the Federal population, I teach them that when they are searching for information about their Federal benefits online, it can often be easier to find what they’re looking for using a major search engine like Google or Yahoo instead of the less sophisticated search engine provided by the actual government web site.  As long as they use key words, (i.e. OPM, CSRS Offset, spousal survivor benefit, etc.), a search engine like Google will usually yield the exact location of the government web page that they need much quicker than trying to find the same page using the government web site.  It’s also important to emphasize that if they use a major search engine like Google that they first attempt to obtain the information they need from the government web pages yielded from the search before they start looking at the search engine results from other random non-government sources.
If the non-government source helps to make sense of the government information, that’s good… but they should be cautious, especially if the non-government source seems to contradict the government information, then the individual should either communicate with the government source directly for explanation, OR contact NARFE.  As you know, there are many entities online that claim to be “subject matter experts” in the areas of Federal benefits, but they often know very little OR just enough to make them dangerous to the Federal population, and unfortunately their web sites will often come up in search engine results.
Here are some additional URL addresses that you might consider, in no particular order:

FSAFEDS for Flexible Spending Accounts (healthcare, dependent care, & limited expense healthcare)
BENEFEDS for the Federal Employees Dental & Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP)
Consumers' Checkbook Guide to Federal Health Insurance Plans
NARFE Federal Benefits Institute (archived and upcoming webinars are also on this web page)
OPM Publications and Forms
Directory of Headquarters Level Agency Benefits Officers (Federal employees often don’t know who their agency benefits/retirement officers are.  This web page includes a directory of folks who can assist them with identifying who they should contact for assistance with Federal benefits & retirement while still employed).
Info from AARP Regarding Second Careers
FEHB and Medicare Booklet
FEHB and Medicare Fast Facts
Medicare and YOU web site
Other Insurance Assistance Programs
National Council on Aging
TSP Forms and Publications
Investor.gov  A web site from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to help folks learn more about managing investments and hiring a professional financial advisor, if desired.
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One of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard was Tony Blair speaking about democratic Israel and secular Palestine. It’s not even just that an utterly failed prime minister takes it upon himself to lecture the oldest nation on earth. Blair’s own country is a monarchy, and non-secular at that. That’s true: in Britain, like in many other European countries church and state are not fully separated. In a Christian monarchy, a Jewish commoner is not equal to the queen, nor are the Jews equal to Christians, because state holidays and symbolism are Christian and budgeting favors Christian organizations. Blair nevertheless argues that Israel must provide her Muslim residents with full equality.

Blair’s role as arbiter is absurd. Jews do not want an arbiter to begin with. After millennia of persecution, we don’t care whether the solution we want is just, we just want it. Moreover, Blair cannot possibly arbitrate our conflict with the Arabs because of self-interest—as if real conflicts could be arbitrated at all. Britain consistently takes a pro-Arab position in foreign policy. British economic interests lie with oil-producing Muslims. British strategic partnerships are with Arab countries. Britain sought to prevent the Israeli state from coming into being, and has seldom opposed the UN’s anti-Semitic resolutions.

The Quartet’s moralizing attempts are obscene. The United States comfortably exists on land it took from slaughtered Native Indians, even their far-left liberals do not argue for returning the land to its rightful owners the Indians. How is the administration of the Occupied United States concerned with the Israeli “occupation” of a tiny strip of land alongside an unimportant river? Both the United States and Britain retain colonial possessions against the islanders’ will. France lost its colonies despite making every effort to maintain them, and cannot in good faith argue against the Israeli “occupation.” Russia occupies Japanese (the Kuril Islands), German (Koenigsberg), and until recently, Polish and Romanian territories, as well as many other ethnically distinct regions. The UN, another member of the Quartet, has no problem with the world’s many monarchies, nationalist regimes, atrocious governments, border wars, and ethnic persecutions, but has become obsessed over Israeli issues.

Is there an arbiter acceptable to Israel? The defeatist Israeli establishment accepted even the most biased arbiter, the Quartet. A Jewish government would have rejected any arbiter because we want the land rather than justice for the Arabs; let the Americans restore justice to their Native Indians first. But an impartial arbiter is impossible to find: since Arabs are more numerous than Jews, more important strategically, and possess oil, any governmental arbiter would favor them. A non-governmental arbiter inherently lacks the power of enforcement, and does not command the respect associated with power in international relations.

The Quartet is just a new name for the Evian Conference.

Israel: down with British Queen