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Last 100 Entries
Friday
17Apr

Clearing the Slum, Building the Project

The middle of the twentieth century was, in many ways, the height of modernity.  And nothing symbolised modernity for North Americans quite like the car.  Hence the construction of freeways.  But on the other side of these freeways lay slums, mostly comprised of Victorian-era housing and other buildings.  In some places, like New York City and Boston, the buildings were even older.  These dilapidated, broken down old buildings mocked the wealth of their cities. 

 

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Thursday
16Apr

Stabilising Chechnya

Russia has announced today that it is ending its "Chechnya operation," after a decade.  Branded a "counter-terrorism operation" by the Kremlin, Russia has spent much of the past decade-and-a-half in conflict with the breakaway republic, including two wars fought since 1994.  

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Thursday
16Apr

Curating Difficult Knowledge Conference

This weekend, Concordia University in Montréal is hosting the first "Curating Difficult Knowledge" conference.  The conference is sponsored by the Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence (CEREV), part of Concordia's Department of History.

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Tuesday
14Apr

Highjacking Video

Our good friends over at the Dangeroom have posted this video, received from a source with contacts in the pirate world.  It's video taken by the pirates themselves of the highjacking of the Turkish vessel, the Yasa Neslihan, last October (the crew was released unharmed on 6 January 2009).  

Tuesday
14Apr

Somali Pirates and Islamism

A rather disturbing side-note to the story of Somali pirates is that on the BBC News' website: stories about the pirates, are linked to a larger BBC concern with the "Failed State" of Somalia and the rise of Islamism there.

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Tuesday
14Apr

The Raid to Free Capt. Phillips

[UPDATED] Well, now we know what the American response to pirate attacks against American-flagged transport ships will be.  On Saturday night, US Navy snipers took out three of the pirates holding Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama, and took the other prisoner whilst freeing Phillips.  The move was approved at the highest echelon, by President Obama.

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Saturday
11Apr

Vive la guerre froid!

Back in February, Canada and Russia got into a bit of a diplomatic tilt when Russian Air Force patrols came close to Canadian air space in the Arctic.  This set off a bit of a war of words, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper termed the Russian forays “incursions” and the Russian embassy in Ottawa told Canadian Members of Parliament that Canada was over-reacting and that Harper was unfairly reviving Cold War rhetoric. 

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Saturday
11Apr

Pirates

For the past few months, Somali pirates have been making big news, highjacking several freighters on the Indian Ocean, off the Yemeni, Somalia, Kenyan, and Tanzanian coasts.  There is currently drama on the Indian Ocean surrounding the US-flagged Maersk Alabama of the Somalian coast.  The ship was seized by four pirates a few days ago.  This is apparently the first time an American vessel has been seized since the Barbary Pirates were plying their trade centuries ago.

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Tuesday
07Apr

A Concise Version of Human History

One of my students, bored whilst studying, drew this concise version of history on a blackboard in the study area of my department.  I leave it for you to discuss amongst yourselves:

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Monday
06Apr

A New Military Order in America

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates today presented his new budget today, and it is a rather interesting one, especially given the topic of discussion here on the CTlab for the past week.  The Obama Administration is determined to spend less on building the US military to fight a traditional war against traditional powers like China and Russia; rather, the administration is interested in increasing the counter-terrorism abilities of the military.

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