Tag: History

Jonathan Steele: I came to Russia a political correspondent and left a crime reporter // Rafael Behr: 30 years after the Moscow coup, democracy is in a crisis of self-esteem

When Jonathan Steele moved to Moscow for the Guardian in 1988, the story of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms was getting “hotter and hotter”. But with all the restrictions on foreign journalists in the Soviet Union, the question was how to report it. The sources were mainly local journalists authorised to speak to foreigners or dissidents. The… Read More Jonathan Steele: I came to Russia a political correspondent and left a crime reporter // Rafael Behr: 30 years after the Moscow coup, democracy is in a crisis of self-esteem

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Major Danny Sjursen, US Army (retd) – A Life and Nation Transformed: 20 Years from the War on Terror

Being a member of the US Army wasn’t all that dangerous before America set off on its quixotic post-9/11 adventures. This was no longer the case when I was serving at the height of both “surges” to nowhere-but-failure in 2007 (Iraq) and 2011 (Afghanistan). During a 2007 spent driving down Baghdad’s bomb-laden streets and dallying around… Read More Major Danny Sjursen, US Army (retd) – A Life and Nation Transformed: 20 Years from the War on Terror

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Ramachandra Guha: महान गांधीवादी की स्मृति, गांधी जी के सचिव महादेव देसाई की कहानी / Remembering the Greatest Gandhian

महात्मा गांधी के सचिव महादेव देसाई का 15 अगस्त, 1942 को निधन हो गया। अपने अंतिम दिनों में जब गांधी को एक ओर हिंदू-मुसलमान तनाव को दूर करने और दूसरी ओर नेहरू और पटेल की बढ़ती दूरियों को कम करने के प्रयास करने पड़ रहे थे, तब उन्होंने कहा था कि महादेव होते तो यह… Read More Ramachandra Guha: महान गांधीवादी की स्मृति, गांधी जी के सचिव महादेव देसाई की कहानी / Remembering the Greatest Gandhian

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August 6 & 9, Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Mythmaking and Atomic Destruction / Blinded by the Light: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Jacques Pauwels: Mythmaking and the Atomic Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki    Truman and his advisors thus fell under the spell of what the renowned American historian William Appleman Williams has called a “vision of omnipotence”. They convinced themselves that the new weapon would enable them to force their will on the Soviet Union. The… Read More August 6 & 9, Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Mythmaking and Atomic Destruction / Blinded by the Light: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) – The Surreal World of Salvador Dalí

As his fame grew, Dalí’s reputation was undermined by his outrageous pronouncements. He confessed that he dreamed of Adolph Hitler “as a woman” whose flesh “ravished me.” Although he insisted he rejected Hitlerism despite such fantasies, the Surrealists, who were allied to the French Communist Party, expelled him in 1939. He also later extolled Spain’s… Read More Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) – The Surreal World of Salvador Dalí

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Australian mathematician discovers applied geometry engraved on 3,700-year-old tablet

Old Babylonian tablet likely used for surveying uses Pythagorean triples at least 1,000 years before Pythagoras    An Australian mathematician has discovered what may be the oldest known example of applied geometry, on a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet. Known as Si.427, the tablet bears a field plan measuring the boundaries of some land. The tablet… Read More Australian mathematician discovers applied geometry engraved on 3,700-year-old tablet

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Archaeological 'treasures,' including 2,400-year-old fruit, discovered at ancient Egyptian city

Archaeological “treasures,” including Greek ceramics and 2,400-year-old wicker baskets filled with fruit, have been discovered at the site of the ancient sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion, off Egypt’s coast. Thonis-Heracleion was Egypt’s largest Mediterranean port before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BCE. A team from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), led by… Read More Archaeological 'treasures,' including 2,400-year-old fruit, discovered at ancient Egyptian city

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Prasenjit Duara – The Chinese World Order in Historical Perspective (2019)

The Imperialism of Nation-states or Soft Power    I seek to grasp the genealogy of China’s Belt and Road (BRI) in relation both to the imperial Chinese world order and the historical sequence of forms of global domination, i.e., modern imperialism, the ‘imperialism of nation-states’ during the inter-war and Cold War period as well as… Read More Prasenjit Duara – The Chinese World Order in Historical Perspective (2019)

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