Carving Up the Globe


Book Description

With hundreds of full-color maps and finely crafted images, this atlas illustrates treaties that have determined the fates of millions, beginning with ancient Egyptians. Malise Ruthven and a team of experts provide lively historical commentary about the geopolitical efforts of princes, politicians, and diplomats to carve up the globe.




Justice Without Frontiers


Book Description

Part A: General perspectives.




The Five Stages of Collapse


Book Description

A user’s guide to economic, political, social and cultural collapse. In the face of political impotence, resource depletion, and catastrophic climate change, many of us have become reconciled to an uncertain future. However, popular perception of how this future might actually unfold varies wildly from "a severe and prolonged recession," to James Howard Kunstler's "long emergency," to the complete breakdown of civilization. In The Five Stages of Collapse , Dmitry Orlov posits a taxonomy of collapse, offering a surprisingly optimistic perspective on surviving the sweeping changes of the day with health and sanity intact. Arguing that it is during periods of disruption and extreme uncertainty that broad cultural change becomes possible, Orlov steers the reader through the challenges of financial, commercial, and political collapse. He suggests that if the first three stages are met with the appropriate responses, further breakdown may be arrested before the extremes of social and cultural collapse are reached. Drawing on a detailed examination of post-collapse societies, including the Somali people of Africa, the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, and even the Russian mafia, The Five Stages of Collapse describes successful adaptations in areas such as finance, self-governance, and social and cultural organization. These fascinating case studies provide a unique perspective on the characteristics that determine highly resilient communities. Shot through with Orlov's trademark dark humor, this is an invaluable toolkit for creating workable post-collapse solutions. Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad, Russia, and immigrated to the United States. He is the author of Reinventing Collapse and maintains the phenomenally popular blog Club Orlov.




Carving Out a Living on the Land


Book Description

When he first envisioned becoming a farmer, author Emmet Van Driesche never imagined his main crop would be Christmas trees, nor that such a tree farm could be more of a managed forest than the conventional grid of perfectly sheared trees. Carving Out a Living on the Land tells the story of how Van Driesche navigated changing life circumstances, took advantage of unexpected opportunities, and leveraged new and old skills to piece together an economically viable living, while at the same time respecting the land's complex ecological relationships. From spoon carving to scything, coppicing to wreath-making, Carving Out a Living on the Land proves that you don't need acres of expensive bottomland to start your land-based venture, but rather the creativity and vision to see what might be done with that rocky section or ditch or patch of trees too small to log. You can lease instead of buy; build flexible, temporary structures rather than sink money into permanent ones; and take over an existing operation rather than start from scratch. What matters are your unique circumstances, talents, and interests, which when combined with what the land is capable of producing, can create a fulfilling and meaningful farming life.




Globalisation and Its Discontents


Book Description

"Unlike most readings of globalisation, these essays depict not an irresistible juggernaut but a process that, in generating its own resistances, opens up the possibility of an alternative world order founded not on the inequalities of power and capital, but on shared commitment to a fragile planet and a common and universal culture."--BOOK JACKET.




The Holy Grail of Science


Book Description

From the Diagram the Author describes how it is possible that we have Four Metallic Planets, Four Giant Gas Planets and early science discovered just Four Dwarfs which are the largest today out of a total of eleven. The book also describes ‘How the Four King Tides are generated accompanied by the Neap Tides. The Author describes another multitude of events in our Solar System and throughout our Galaxy, the Milky Way. In the last chapter the author talks about the events that lead to his discovery of all of the above plus a spin on his involvement in Spiritualism and Mediumship.




Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference


Book Description

People have always been xenophobic, but an explicit philosophical and scientific view of human racial difference only began to emerge during the modern period. Why and how did this happen? Surveying a range of philosophical and natural-scientific texts, dating from the Spanish Renaissance to the German Enlightenment, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference charts the evolution of the modern concept of race and shows that natural philosophy, particularly efforts to taxonomize and to order nature, played a crucial role. Smith demonstrates how the denial of moral equality between Europeans and non-Europeans resulted from converging philosophical and scientific developments, including a declining belief in human nature's universality and the rise of biological classification. The racial typing of human beings grew from the need to understand humanity within an all-encompassing system of nature, alongside plants, minerals, primates, and other animals. While racial difference as seen through science did not arise in order to justify the enslavement of people, it became a rationalization and buttress for the practices of trans-Atlantic slavery. From the work of François Bernier to G. W. Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and others, Smith delves into philosophy's part in the legacy and damages of modern racism. With a broad narrative stretching over two centuries, Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference takes a critical historical look at how the racial categories that we divide ourselves into came into being.




The Borders of "Europe"


Book Description

In recent years the borders of Europe have been perceived as being besieged by a staggering refugee and migration crisis. The contributors to The Borders of "Europe" see this crisis less as an incursion into Europe by external conflicts than as the result of migrants exercising their freedom of movement. Addressing the new technologies and technical forms European states use to curb, control, and constrain what contributors to the volume call the autonomy of migration, this book shows how the continent's amorphous borders present a premier site for the enactment and disputation of the very idea of Europe. They also outline how from Istanbul to London, Sweden to Mali, and Tunisia to Latvia, migrants are finding ways to subvert visa policies and asylum procedures while negotiating increasingly militarized and surveilled borders. Situating the migration crisis within a global frame and attending to migrant and refugee supporters as well as those who stoke nativist fears, this timely volume demonstrates how the enforcement of Europe’s borders is an important element of the worldwide regulation of human mobility. Contributors. Ruben Andersson, Nicholas De Genova, Dace Dzenovska, Evelina Gambino, Glenda Garelli, Charles Heller, Clara Lecadet, Souad Osseiran, Lorenzo Pezzani, Fiorenza Picozza, Stephan Scheel, Maurice Stierl, Laia Soto Bermant, Martina Tazzioli




Napoleon's Hundred Days and the Politics of Legitimacy


Book Description

This book examines the politics of legitimacy as they played out across Europe in response to Napoleon’s dramatic return to power in France after his exile to Elba in 1814. Napoleon had to re-establish his claim to power with initially minimal military resources. Moreover, as the rest of Europe united against him, he had to marshal popular support for his new regime, while simultaneously demanding men and money to back what became an increasingly inevitable military campaign. The initial return – known as ‘the flight of the eagle’ – gradually turned into a dogged attempt to bolster support using a range of mechanisms, including constitutional amendments, elections, and public ceremonies. At the same time, his opponents had to marshal their resources to challenge his return, relying on populations already war-weary and resentful of the costs they had had to bear. The contributors to this volume explore how, for both sides, cultural politics became central in supporting or challenging the legitimacy of these political orders in the path to Waterloo.




The Plato Prophecy


Book Description

In an era fraught with uncertainty and mounting global challenges, The Plato Prophecy unveils a chilling portrait of a world teetering on the precipice. As China’s meteoric rise ushers in a wave of unabashed nationalism, bolstered by its burgeoning military might, and Russia, an audacious autocracy, brazenly invades Ukraine, trampling upon the sovereignty of this fledgling democracy, a haunting question looms: are we unwittingly sleepwalking into a catastrophic disaster? Amidst this perilous landscape, the deafening absence of resolute Western leadership, those strong voices commanding respect and purpose, becomes all too apparent. Democracy, burdened by dysfunction and poisoned by partisan toxicity, falters under its own weight, mirroring the twilight of an empire. The United States grapples with internal social malaise, an affliction that signals the decline of a once-great nation. Britain, embroiled in the quagmire of Brexit, contends with an energy crisis and rampant inflation, while Europe, shackled by Russia’s stranglehold on its energy supply, races against time to recalibrate and salvage its economic stability. The unfiltered deluge of vitriol unleashed across unregulated platforms of social media breeds a perilous new cyber electorate, a breeding ground ripe for malign foreign actors to manipulate civil discourse. The insidious contagion of political correctness and ‘wokeism’ casts a suffocating shadow upon free thought, free speech, and the indomitable right of individuals to dare, to aspire, to hope, unhindered by those seeking to silence them. As the foundations of democracy crumble, opportunistic regimes like China and Russia eagerly seize the opportunity to fill the void, exerting their influence and shaping the world according to their own agendas. For those troubled by the alarming trajectory of these developments, The Plato Prophecy emerges as an urgent call to action, a searing exploration of the perils facing humanity’s most cherished ideals.