Theatres of Violence on the Ottoman Periphery: Exploring the Local Roots of Genocidal Policies in Antep

This article explores how and why deportation and elimination of the Armenians of Antep were carried out during World War One (WWI). In particular, it scrutinizes the political and social context in which local authorities, provincial elites, and ordinary Muslims radicalized their views and policies against Armenians. It highlights the crucial role played by local elites and actors who prospered through acquisition of Armenian property and wealth. In this respect, the article argues that the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)’s genocide and deportation decision enjoyed a certain level of social support through the practice of effective power and control mechanism(s) at the local level.     

Social agency and the dynamics of prehistoric technology

Technology is not only the material means of making artifacts, but a dynamic cultural phenomenon embedded in social action, worldviews, and social reproduction. This paper explores the theoretical foundations for an anthropology of technology that is compatible with this definition. Because of its focus on social agency, practice theory provides an appropriate starting point for a social theory of technology. In addition, three other themes require explicit attention: scale, context, and the materiality of technology. Four case studies demonstrate how archaeologists are beginning to take technology beyond its material dimensions, and additional questions are proposed stemming from the theoretical issues raised in the paper. The purpose of this essay is to synthesize a diverse set of emerging ideas and approaches to understand better dynamic community-level social processes of prehistoric material culture production.     

The ‘cult of the insurgent’: its tactical and strategic implications

More important than the potential geographical spread of a specific weapon, tactic or expertise is the emulation or inspiration of the ‘culture’ surrounding a terrorist or insurgent movement. This article argues that a ‘cult of the insurgent’ has arisen as a result of the aura of success surrounding both the Iraqi insurgents in their ongoing confrontation with the United States military and Hezbollah in its confrontation in the northern summer of 2006 with Israel. Further, this ‘cult of the insurgent’ will prove the most critical factor in inspiring, motivating and animating the spread of lethal and destructive expertise among other terrorist and insurgent groups worldwide. In the future, therefore, our adversaries will likely conclude that the best and most cost-effective means to confront either a superpower or the superior, conventional military forces of an established nation-state is through a campaign reliant on terrorist and insurgent tactics involving stand-off attacks utilising IEDS (improvised explosive devices) and portable missiles and mortars1 1. I am indebted to my close friend and valued colleague, Professor Ami Pedahzur of the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin for the discussions and exchanges of e-mails that helped to crystallise the arguments presented in this article. I am also indebted to our mutual friend and researcher par excellence, Dr. Arie Perliger, of the National Security Studies Center at Haifa University, Israel, for the very helpful assistance he provided with respect to cataloguing for me the vast array of off-the-shelf and improvised weapons used by both the Iraqi insurgents and Hezbollah in their respective confrontations with the US and coalition military forces in Iraq and the Israel Defence Forces in south Lebanon. View all notes.     

Which Side Are You On?

Book reviewed in this article:
Mary Ann Heiss, Empire and Nationhood: The United States, Great Britain, and Iranian Oil, 1950-1954     

Lösung von Problemen des Güterverkehrs mit Hilfe von Truck-Trains

Einführung Für alle L?nder spielt der Verkehr eine wichtige Rolle. Ein flie?ender Verkehr hat einen gro?en Einflu? auf deren Wirtschaftskraft. Der Begriff “Zeit ist Geld” wurde in der Vergangenheit mit der laufend gestiegenen Schnelligkeit der Fahrzeuge – ob Autos, Flugzeuge, Schiffe oder Züge – demonstriert. Mit Ausnahme der Schienenwege k?nnen auf allen Verkehrswegen langsam fahrende Fahrzeuge überholt werden. Die Betreiber von Schienenfahrzeugen haben deshalb Probleme mit der Ausnutzung der Kapazit?t auf dem vorhandenen Schienennetz. Als Beispiel mag hier die Deutsche Bahn dienen. Trotz zwischenzeitlicher Preissteigerungen seit dem Jahre 1991 ist ein Umsatzrückgang zu verzeichnen. Die Forcierung des sogenannten Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehrs ging zu Lasten des Güterverkehrs. Dessen Umsatz ist nach dem Zusammenschlu? der beiden deutschen Bahnen in den letzten neun Jahren um nahezu 5 Mrd. DM zurück gegangen. Das Defizit der Deutschen Bahn konnte nicht ausgeglichen werden. Die Bedeutung der Schiene, deren Wert und die bestehenden M?glichkeiten wurden verkannt. Hier handelt es sich um ein vorhandenes ca. 40.000 Kilometer langes, intaktes Verkehrswegenetz, das den geringsten Fl?chenbedarf hat, die auf ihm verkehrenden Fahrzeuge sind zudem auch noch umweltfreundlich. Die derzeitgen Probleme des Verkehrs auf den Stra?en lassen sich mit der Verlagerung der LKW auf die Schiene l?sen. Gleichzeitig kann damit die Deutsche Bahn AG “richtig” saniert werden.     

Die Deutschlandreise des René Descartes

Due to lacking reliable sources almost no details were available on the educational journey of the joung Descartes. Moreover, contradictions in several publications resulted in the doubt, whether these events, which are so important for the history of science, ever hapened at all. Folowing careful and comprehensive research at the City Archives Ulm, the Hessian City Archives Darmstadt and the Bavarian State Library in Munich the author found evidence that René Descartes met the mathematician and master fortress builder Johann Faulhaber in Ulm.¹ Now, the first summary of Descartes' travel report can be given based on further findings (in reliable sources) and corroborated by numerous facts.