Rock art on Socotra,Yemen: the discovery of a petroglyph site on the island's south coast.

Recent fieldwork on the south coast of the island of Socotra, Yemen, has revealed a hitherto unknown petroglyph site. This site represents the first rock art to have been recorded on the south coast, an area generally regarded as being unpopulated up until the recent past. The corpus of recorded petroglyphs includes feet, cupules, anthropomorphic figures and geometric motifs, whose designs parallel those from known rock‐art sites on the north coast. The importance of this site is that it provides us with the first glimpse into the religious and socio‐political lives of the inhabitants of the previously unknown southern half of Socotra. Placing these petroglyphs within the broader context of rock‐art studies on the island of Socotra has also allowed us to begin to disentangle the skewed view of Socotra's inhabitants.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.     

The political economy of economic reform in North Korea

For over 10 years, North Korea has undergone a severe economic crisis, including food shortages, which has inflicted great suffering upon the North Korean people. Given such dire realities, it is beyond all doubt that the North Korean government should actively carry out comprehensive economic reforms as quickly as possible which aim to transform North Korea's present inefficient socialist planned economic system into a market economic system. Many argue that such reforms would give rise to successful economic growth in North Korea, which could enhance the legitimacy of the North Korean regime. Yet, the North Korean regime has consistently avoided implementing economic reforms, even though it has had a number of opportunities to do so. The July 1st reforms, which were introduced in 2002, have been half-hearted and inconsistently applied. This then raises an important question: Why has the North Korean government avoided adopting comprehensive economic reforms? In other words, what is the crucial barrier that has hindered North Korea's implementation of economic reforms? This article pinpoints North Korea's unique political system—i.e. its monolithic system of political control and policy making which exhibits the highest level of power concentration in one individual among all political systems—as the biggest barrier to economic reforms. No doubt North Korea desperately needs comprehensive economic reforms, in light of its economic crisis and food shortages. Nonetheless, the current North Korean regime has avoided adopting such reforms since they will undermine North Korea's monolithic system. In conclusion, North Korea's monolithic system has been the biggest obstacle to North Korea's economic reforms.     

20世纪三四十年代中共在陕甘宁边区与哥老会关系论析

研究共产主义革命与秘密结社的关系,即秘密结社在近代革命过程中的地位与作用,是一个具有挑战性的主题。本论文通过对陕甘宁边区哥老会与共产主义运动关系的例证考察,重新检讨以往的“连续性论（亲和性论）”,“非连续性论（不溶性论）”和“竞争关系论”等观点。长征以前,当地的革命家们试图去适应秘密结社所植根的农村底层文化。刘志丹主动加入哥老会,动员其与哥老会的个人、社会关系便是这种灵活适应的一个完美的例子。长征后,中共中央进一步试图对哥老会进行全面公开的政治化。在这一政治化进程中,哥老会固有的政治、道德口号成为重要的连接纽带。但是,共产党和哥老会的这种关系并不是对称、对等的。共产党通过“毛泽东路线”的灵活性开始逐渐在当地构筑自己的势力。在共产党的系统构造框架之内,哥老会虽说可以在共产党统治地区内生存,但无法取得更大的发展。     

In the shade of Locarno? Why European defence is failing

European defence is failing because of the profusion and confusion of strategic concepts in Europe today. This article draws parallels with the Europe of the interwar years when strategic concepts were similarly confused. At the time a complex interplay between the traditional balance of power approach to security and the collective security, disarmament and international arbitration enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles resulted in strategic paralysis. The nadir of this failed strategic concept was the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 that, by endeavouring to keep all states happy at all times, simply prevented the creation of an effective security and defence mechanism. The rest is history. While the strategic environment of the first decade of the twenty–first century is undoubtedly different to that of the second decade of the twentieth, the need to satisfy the domestic political needs of all European powers, great and small, activist and post–neutral is producing a similar effect. Europe today has a security system that seems to bear little or no relation to the threats that are emerging. It is time, therefore, that Europe's Great Powers, Britain, France and Germany reasserted their political authority and bring an end to the political correctness that has so undermined European defence. Given the time that such endeavours normally take, and the nature and scope of emerging threats, the time for such action is now. Europe's Great Powers cannot again afford to be late and unprepared for the conflicts that lie ahead.