№ 781. Geopolitics and Exit Strategies 3

Geographic Guide - Greenland

№ 780. The Long Now

 

Longnow

№ 644. Geopolitics and Exit Strategies 3

"To provoke China into a military confrontation today is to trap it into an arena where the US is still superior. The American chess pieces of 800 overseas military bases, gunboat diplomacy in air, land, and sea, and military technology are more than 20 years ahead of China, and are further bolstered by the $850 billion proposed US defense budget for 2023. The US continues to surround China in the Indo-Pacific with bases, carrier fleets, and submarines bristling with conventional and nuclear missiles.

Fortunately, China does not want to fall into the trap that doomed the former Soviet Union in an arms race or commit the mistakes of past colonial big powers.

But this fierce geopolitical competition between the US and China inevitably involves the Philippines because of its geostrategic location. Will we continue to be a de facto US aircraft carrier and part of the US nuclear infrastructure? The Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement, and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement make us part of the offensive island chain of encirclement against neighboring China. There is now an agreement with the US-firm Cerberus for it to take over Hanjin Shipyard at Subic that will allow the regular repair, refueling, and docking of the US Navy."

№ 642. The Day the Music Died

To deal with its length, McLean’s record company had a clever idea. The first half of the song appeared on the A-side of the single, while the second was consigned to side B. The result turned the A-side into a cliffhanger the listener had to see through to the end. The subsequent demand forced AM radio stations to play both sides. At the same time, FM radio – whose mandate was to go deeper and play longer – was reaching its commercial apex at the time. Issued at the end of 1971, American Pie hit No 1 by January of 72, where it stayed for a full month. For 49 years, it held the record for the longest song to hit No 1 – until Taylor Swift’s 10-minute cut, All Too Well, broke it.

Condenaststore

 

 

№ 641. The Roman Empire

Most ancient societies assumed that being a citizen of a particular place meant not just living in that place, but also speaking the language and sharing in the common culture. Romans, by contrast, could be people who might well not even speak Latin. As Beard notes, in the later periods of the Roman empire, Greek was the lingua franca (or rather, the koine glossa—“common tongue”) in its eastern half. In contrast to many slave-owning societies, both ancient and modern, the Romans allowed large numbers of their slaves to become free, and to acquire at least limited forms of citizenship.
 

Cartoonist Group

 

№ 536. Geopolitics and Exit Strategies 2

Empires wax and wane. Powers ebb and flow. Spheres of influence retreat and surge. Celestial bodies are born and die.

As it is with the universe, so it is with its subsets and elements.

 

Political Cartoons

№ 493. History and the Apollo Moon Landings

History is politicized.

How much of what I've learned as textbook history is really true, fair or a balanced view? Is there even supposed to be a balanced view of history. How much of the propaganda of the victors went into the viewpoints that we learned in school?

Wasn't it said that "“In all revolutions the vanquished are the ones who are guilty of treason, even by the historians,”  “for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side.” This is attributed to Sen. George Graham Vest, a former congressman for the Confederacy.

№ 430. Reading the Signs of the Times

Technology

The question for historians is not simply how a politician should be judged and commemorated today, but also how s/he should be understood within the context of his/her time.

№ 408. Museum of a History of Ideas through Square Lenses

№ 306. Sunday Through Square Lenses

Lectores de las palabras perdido (Readers of the lost words).
Blindfolded, the Jesuit reads a catechism,
the Augustinian, a novena in Tagalog, while
the Recollect recites a Visayan prayer.
The Dominican holds a box with the tithes
collected for all the lost words.

The Philippines was colony of Spain for about three hundred thirty three years. Yes, 333 years! 333 years divided by 20 years, for every generation, equals 16.65 generations.

№ 290. Tomorrow Land

"The implementation of the Goals must be underpinned by a strong and active civil society that includes the weak and the marginalized. We must defend civil society's freedom to operate and do this essential job. On this International Day of Democracy, let us rededicate ourselves to democracy and dignity for all." — UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

№ 275. Geopolitics and Exit Strategies

Empires crumble, unions divorce, monarchs fade and historicities recede into forgotten myths. It is really just a matter of time --- in days, months, years, decades, centuries or light years (distance is a measure of time, because of the continuum).

Thus passes the glory of the world....

№ 253. 21st Century Songs of Fire and Ice

Twenty-first century appears to be mirroring its predecessor period. From a bipolar world that emerged from the Cold War, we are once again getting more fragmented and multi-polar. After the realignments of nations in the Second World War to the disintegration of the Soviet bloc in the 1980s and the 1990s, spheres of influence have splintered.

Ball games are not safe with live ammunition and
civilian exposure.

№ 250. Paper History

Bank Note

"My interest in bank notes is related to the history printed on them that supplements textbooks, classroom history, and civics because it expresses something about the past: the founding fathers, significant events and personages.

Bank notes attempt to tell a story, or part of a story, regarding a nation and nationhood. Like classroom history, a bank note is both informative and formative when the past is utilized to situate citizens in the context of a nation. While a bank note tells a story on a small sheet of paper, what people do not see are the reasons behind its design: For example, the use of particular historical personages and the exclusion of others are a decision that underscores the contested nature of history especially when it is handmaid to nation-building and nationalism."

№ 242. Manila, a Final Frontier

From the 1500s to the 1800s, the Philippines had been a frontier at the western edge of the Spanish Empire.

Because we were so far away from the throne --- two oceans away to be sure--- we were governed remotely and indirectly through the viceroy in Mexico. 

Global Map

Mexico, almost midpoint from Spain, was an accessible foothold to the New Worlds because it sits in the middle of the two maritime expanses of the Pacific and Atlantic. More importantly, it's geography was strategic. It served as a land bridge that facilitated the transshipment of people, information, culture and goods between the two oceans (Panama Canal was completed only in the early 20th century). Mexico's relative proximity to the Philippines not only cut down administrative challenges to the overextended Iberian royal power. It also trimmed down the time and costs of projecting the delegated power to the subjects in the Asian colony.

№ 167. Mistakes to the Nth Power

"There is much to learn about life by opening the wonderbox of history."---- Roman Krznaric

№ 162. Sunday's Best

Seriously, this is funny. LOL.

№ 118. History of Photography

№ 111. Music History in 7 Minutes!

Good prep for oral exams.