Are Congo's mines the main target of the armed groups on its soil?

The authors have developed a qualitative geographic research tool for case studies of conflict areas. They believe it can furnish convincing evidence on war motivation. They have used the tool to analyze concrete military actions and decisions and to trace them back to what provoked them. They have applied it to the conflict situation in the DR Congo between August 2007 and January 2008. In this article special attention is given to the role of natural resources in the armed conflict. Its importance as a war motivation factor is compared to three other conflict drivers found in the literature on the causes of war.

War and exchange rate valuation

This article investigates the extent to which the dominance of the United States dollar as an international currency has been contingent on American diplomacy rather than the prosecution of expensive wars. Four wars are examined, the Korean war (1950-1953), the Vietnam war (1964-1975), the Persian Gulf war (1990-1991), and the Iraq war (2003-present). The historical performance of the dollar is examined in times of war and peace, and the Box-Jenkins forecasting algorithm is employed to make a short-term projection of the dollar coinciding with the Iraq war. The price of gold is used as a measure of the value of the U.S. dollar and investor confidence in the dollar during times of war and peace. The empirical evidence shows a short-term depreciation of the U.S. dollar coinciding with the Iraq war, which is not atypical of the value of the U.S. dollar in a time of war. Problems with the value of the U.S. dollar in times of war lead to the exploration of alternative forms of money, which if very successful, can erode the continued dominance of the U.S. dollar as an international currency.

"Our Testament to Democracy": The Deception of Japanese American Internment in World War II

The War Powers Resolution: Reassessing the Constitutional Balance of Power

This thesis is an analysis of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and the impact it held on the role of Congress and the President in entering war. More specifically, this thesis takes a look at President Richard M. Nixon's influence on the 93 rd Congress's decision to pass the War Powers Resolution after multiple failed attempts at similar legislation. Through a major domestic policy blunder, the Watergate break-in, and a foreign policy disaster, the ongoing war in Vietnam, opposition to Nixon's residential conduct united both the House and the Senate and resulted in legislation that would attempt to restore the Constitutional balance of power.

The Armor of Democracy: Volunteerism on the Home Front in World War II California

The Armor of Democracy: Volunteerism on the Home Front in World War II California Christopher Michael Head This paper is an in-depth study on the role of Home Front Volunteerism in California during World War II. It argues that Volunteerism was integral to America’s eventual victory. This paper fills a gap in historical writings on World War II and shows that Volunteerism is a topic worthy of study. Volunteerism played a major role in California. It helped to keep morale high even when the war was progressing poorly. Volunteerism also helped to create new communities out of those shattered by the upheaval of the Great Depression. It provided a patriotic outlet for Americans desperate to aid the war effort. Minority groups took part in volunteer activities in order to show that they too were Americans and in doing so raised their status in society. Throughout the war, volunteers collected scrap metal which was melted down into weaponry. “Radishy victory gardens” sprung up throughout California. The Red Cross experienced an unprecedented surge in volunteerism and new methods in preservation and transportation of donated blood saved thousands of lives. The USO, created during the war, provided entertainment to soldiers both on the home front and overseas. Celebrities and civilians volunteered with the USO. This paper discusses many other ways in which Californian’s volunteered. Each volunteer activity provided an outlet for Americans desperate to aid the war effort in any way that they could.

Rusijos ir Gruzijos 2008 metų karinio konflikto pateikimas Lietuvos ir Italijos periodinėje spaudoje informacinio karo aspektu

Straipsnyje informacinio karo aspektu nagrinėjamas 2008 metų rugpjūtį kilusio penkių dienų konflikto tarp Rusijos ir Gruzijos atspindėjimas Lietuvos ir Italijos internetinėje žiniasklaidoje. Nagrinėjamas informacinio karo vaidmuo 2008 metų Rusijos ir Gruzijos kare. Aptariamas karinio konflikto pateikimas pasirinktose žiniasklaidos priemonėse tiriamuoju laikotarpiu. Nagrinėjama, kaip buvo pristatoma didėjanti įtampą Šiaurės Kaukazo regione. Gvildenama, kokią poziciją kariaujančių šalių atžvilgiuužėmė Lietuvos ir Italijos tyrimui pasirinktos žiniasklaidos priemonės. Nagrinėjama informaciniame kare pasireiškianti tendencija, kai žiniasklaida ima palaikyti savo valdžios oficialiąją poziciją kariaujančių šalių atžvilgiu.Presenting the 2008 Russia–Georgia war in Lithuanian and Italian press in information warfare aspectMantas Martišius, Vilija NavickaitėSummaryThe five-day war between Russia and Georgia in the summer of 2008 during the Olympic games in Beijing immediately concentrated the world’s mass media attention and raised public discussions on the reasons and consequences of this confrontation. The paper claims to verify the hypothesis that the Italian mass media were favourable to Russia’s position considering the official Italian–Russian close relationships and the personal friendship of recent Italian prime minister and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi with Russia’s expresident and recent prime minister Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, Lithuanian mass media should have been a favourable to Georgia’s position considering the common historical experience and the official Lithuania’s governmental support of this country advocated in the European Union and NATO membership procedure.By holding the empirical analysis of the mass media publications, the objectives of the research were the following: 1) to explore the concept of information warfare; 2) to determine the contribution of the media to the conflict coverage; 3) to analyze the Italian and Lithuanian mass media publications by selected criteria: a) to analyze the publications of Lithuanian mass media by quantitative and qualitative methods; b) to analyze the publications of Italian mass media by quantitative and qualitative methods; 4) to analyze the reasons for such attitude.According to the empirical research, the evidence of information warfare is clear. Lithuanian mass media into the information warfare. It surrendered to the rule engaged during the war to support the government. This shows that Lithuanian mass media deviated from the truth and objectivity. During the war, Lithuanian society received biased partial information. News from the five-day war between Russia and Georgia were unreliable and incomplete. Ther were no neutral and balanced answers to the questions why the war broke out, who started the fire, how it developed. This happened not just because Russia and Georgia waged the information war, but also as a responsibility of Lithuanian mass media to follow the politics of support to Georgia.The Italian mass media took a neutral position, the type of analyzed mass media which belongs to central left political parties recently placing in opposition and criticizing the S. Berlusconi decision to be favourable to Russia’ s position. Therefore, the conflict between Russia and Georgia was “their” and the Italian mass media just informed society about the events. Thus, the hypothesis was corroborated only in part.

“And I Tiresias have foresuffered all…” – More than allusions to Ovid in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land?

It was the year 1914 and shortly before World War I when T. S. Eliot decided to study in the German city of Marburg for one semester in order to advance his plan for a Ph.D. in philosophy1. During this time, he seemed to be eagerly interested in traditional elements within everyday life, as can be deduced from several letters to his friends: He praised the pastor’s wife for her delicious German food2, and mentioned the “Student verbindungen [sic!]” which were “holding fests [sic!] and parades”3, for instance. Besides his interest in local customs, those letters give information on the fact that he was working up his Greek in the mornings4, thereby following his interests

Critique of Social Institutions in Gilles Deleuze’s and Felix Guattari’s Philosophy

Straipsnyje analizuojama socialinių institucijų kritika, išplėtota Deleuze’o ir Guattari knygose Anti-Oidipas ir Tūkstantis plokštikalnių bei trumpame, bet reikšmingame Deleuze’o tekste „Prierašas apie kontrolės visuomenę“. Deleuze’as ir Guattari kuria mašininę visuomenės sampratą: jų teigimu, skirtingas socialines ir ekonomines formacijas įmanoma įsivaizduoti kaip virtualias mašinas, kurios gali aktualizuotis bet kuriuo istoriniu momentu. Analizuodami valstybės aparatą, Deleuze’as ir Guattari vengia nuorodų į konkrečias valstybes; veikiau jie kalba apie universalią valstybę-formą, kuri veikia kaip užgrobimo aparatas. Valstybė-forma suvokiama kaip suvienodinantis ir standartizuojantis principas, o karo mašina, priešingai, siekia sulaužyti sustingusias formas ir kurti inovacijas. Šie du agregatai – valstybės aparatas ir karo mašina – apibūdina ne tik valstybę ir jai besipriešinančias jėgas, bet persmelkia visas žmogaus veiklos sferas: mokslą, filosofiją, meną. Deleuze’o ir Guattari formuluojama valstybės aparato kritika artima Michelio Foucault disciplinos visuomenės teorijai. Foucault galios samprata taip pat yra mechanicistinė: galia persmelkia sociumą įsikūnydama disciplininiuose aparatuose. Deleuze’as disciplinos visuomenės teorijai priešpriešina savąją kontrolės visuomenės sampratą: priešingai nei disciplininė galia, kuri buvo ilgalaikė, visa apimanti, tačiau netolydi, kontrolė sukuria tolydų ir nuolat kintantį galios tinklą, kuris apraizgo visas žmogaus veiklos sferas.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: socialinės mašinos, valstybės aparatas, karo mašina, disciplinos visuomenė, kontrolės visuomenė.Critique of Social Institutions in Gilles Deleuze’s and Felix Guattari’s PhilosophyAudronė Žukauskaitė SummaryThe article discusses Deleuze’s and Guattari’s notions of society and state. In Anti-Oedipus, Deleuze and Guattari analyze the territorial, despotic and capitalist machines which are seen not as different stages of historical evolution but as different types of an abstract machine. In A Thousand Plateaus Deleuze and Guattari develop the mechanistic notion of the state: the state – form is an abstract machine or a diagram which can be actualized in different historical state forms. The state – form is juxtaposed to another type of assemblage called the nomadic war machine. If the state-form functions as a principle of unification and standardization, the war machine is seen as a principle of metamorphic transformations and innovations. Deleuze and Guattari’s theories of society and state are compared with Michel Foucault’s mechanistic notion of society. Deleuze contrasts his notion of control society to the notion of discipline society by Foucault. If the mechanisms of discipline are discontinuous and function in precise space areas, the mechanisms of control produce continuous and all-encompassing networks which totally merge with our corporeal existence.Keywords: social machines, state apparatus, war machine, discipline society, control society.

TARPUKARIO VILNIAUS FILOSOFINIS GYVENIMAS

Straipsnio tikslas – atskleisti pagrindines tarpukario Vilniaus filosofinės terpės formavimosi ir funkcionavimo tendencijas. Į mokslinę apyvartą įtraukiami kai kurie nauji, lig šiol nenaudoti archyviniai šaltiniai. Autoriaus nuomone, savarankiška tarpukario Vilniaus filosofinė terpė galutinai susiformavo ketvirtojo dešimtmečio viduryje. Tai sietina su naujos, Vilniuje išaugusios filosofų kartos mokslinės veiklos pradžia.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: Lenkijos filosofijos istorija, Vilniaus filosofinė terpė, Lvovo–Varšuvos mokykla.Philosophical Life in Interwar VilniusAlvydas Jokubaitis SummaryIn the interwar period, the institutionalization of philosophical life in Vilnius was slower than in other Polish cities for various economic and cultural reasons. The philosophical environment of Vilnius had already formed only during the mid thirties. This had to do with the rise of a new generation of philosophers who had graduated from Vilnius S. Batory University. It was evident from the third Polish Congress of philosophers that the philosophical forces of Vilnius at the time were strong enough to surpass the results achieved by colleagues from Poznan. One thing is striking about the philosophical life in S. Batory University. Throughout the twenty years, no department of philosophy in the Humanitarian Faculty was run by graduates of this university.Keywords: history of Polish philosophy, Vilnius philosophical environment, Lwów–Warsaw School of Philosophy.ight: 18px;">

Relation between traumatic experience and post-traumatic symptomatics in Lithuanian Afganistan war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder

The aim of this paper is to assess what potential traumatic life-events and experiences are related to PTSD in the Lithuanian Afghanistan war veterans (N = 174). Data in this study were collected from a questionnaire survey with a sample of 268 Lithuanian men aged 32 to 52, who were on military duty (compulsory military service) in the Soviet army in 1979–1989. Four regions (capital cities, cities, small cities, and countryside), with the sample allocation proportionate to the distribution of Lithuanian population, geographically stratified the sample; 174 men served in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union – Afghanistan war. They were divided into two groups according to the manifestation of posttraumatic stress disorder. One group consists of 108 men without PTSD and 46 men with PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD (25 and 21 respectively). The following variables were investigated: demographics, traumatic life-events or conditions, PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, Mollica et al., 1992). The Lithuanian Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD reported significantly more lifetime traumatic events and conditions. The average number of traumatic events per man with PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD was 12.4 and 10 for those without PTSD (F = 1.58, df =152, p < 0.05). The average number of direct exposure events per Lithuanian Afghanistan war veteran with PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD was 8 and 6 for veterans without PTSD (F = 10.2, df = 152, p < 0.002). There was a significant correlation between PTSD and the amount of direct exposure and particular traumatic experience: neglect in childhood, loss of a family member, mental illness in the family, absence of parents, violent assault, persecution, and struggle for existence.The Lithuanian Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD and without PTSD had a very similar experience of military operations and combats and the duration of their service didn’t differ. Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD experienced more traumatic life-events and conditions than did veterans without PTSD, Veterans with PTSD and a sub-clinical level of PTSD, more often than veterans without PTSD, experienced traumatic exposure related to the family, violent assault and struggle for existence. Mental illness in the family, loss of a family member and violent assault were predictive of PTSD and sub-clinical level of PTSD in the Lithuanian Afghanistan war veterans.