Catherine the Great’s Byzantium

Catherine II inspired many Russian projects in historical studies. She herself was an active, if amateur, historian. The empress eagerly used history to promote her own political ideas and was an avid reader of history, both Russian and ancient. But what about Byzantine history? One would think she would have been interested in it as well, since between the late 1770s and the early 1790s, Catherine was enraptured by a plan to dismember the Ottoman Empire and recreate Byzantium with the capital in Constantinople. In her view, her youngest grandson (born in 1779) was to rule this future empire and was deliberately named Konstantin. This “Greek Project”, broadly regarded to have been the main thrust of Russian foreign policy for fifteen years, had very solid cultural “wrappings” such as architectural projects, poetry, drama, paintings, medals, etc. The author examines whether this campaign was accompanied by a deeper interest in and knowledge of the history of the Byzantium that Catherine wanted to revive. The author concludes that the empress did not bother to learn anything about this great civilization. Byzantine history, apart from Russo-Byzantine relations, did not become a subject of scholarly research during her reign. Catherine herself began reading Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but gave it up on the eighth volume of its French translation, thus going no further than the fifth century, when Byzantium proper was just emerging. In her play Oleg’s Early Rule, she demonstrated complete ignorance of Byzantine history, culture, court ceremonies, etc. Finally, numerous and blatant errors in the “Byzantine” parts of her Notes on Russian History suggest that Catherine had no interest in or “a big picture” of Byzantine history. Only once in this extensive book, and even then only in a footnote, do we suddenly come across a very precise, thoughtful, and detailed description of Byzantine facts, namely, of the Varangian guards at the imperial court of Constantinople. This suggests that when Catherine deemed a subject important, she was able to find exhaustive information on any “Byzantine” question. Yet, of all things Byzantine, Catherine showed interest in only one issue, and that was because it concerned the “Norman question”, a highly sensitive topic in her time and ever since. Otherwise, the empress remained completely indifferent to Byzantium. It can be surmised that Catherine never saw the “Greek Project” as a practical task of recreating a real state with its distinct laws, officials, territorial division and, finally, church.

PAK–US Relations: Paradoxes & Enigmas during War on Terror

Pakistan –USA relations with the punctuated history of over seventy years roller-coaster motion have passed through phases of intense engagement to era of sanctions and betrayal during the Cold war, followed by spells of distrust, suspicions, and discord during the War against Terror. The intensity of close relations of the 50s and 60s shifted from one extreme to that of complete ignorance in the 70s, followed by urgent marrying up during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and turning in to a most sanctioned Ally after soviet withdrawal. 9/11 served as another anchorage once again for the two old allies; however the warmness of relations remained frequently affected by numerous vexatious irritants thereby eroding mutual trust and War results. The discord in bilateral relations was transformed into cooperation by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US and Pakistan is listed as a key ally in the war against Afghanistan. Since the commencement of the War against Terror in Afghanistan, the pattern of interstates relations has taken turns with every major event and the changing tones of the last few years indicated that the sky over Pakistan once again seems to be overcast. The rhetoric of "do more" and suspension of all kinds of military and economic aid was a true replica of the past. The backlash of War in Afghanistan appeared with bangs in Pakistan threatening its peace and stability on one hand and polarizing its socio-political fibre of the society on the other. Soon Pakistan's army was left alone by the US and the NATO in its operation against the safe havens of terrorists alongside Durand line with disregard to all of its human and economic cost, suffered as a non-NATO ally. Pakistan's role in the fulfilment of USA interests in Afghanistan is once again signified in the wake of US Withdrawal forces and culmination of promising peace process in Afghanistan. The situation is once against ripe for Pakistan to pursue the USA's objectives and in return seek USA's support in resolving its economic, security, and Kashmir.

Legal Regulation of the Transition of Kazakhstan to Green Economy

By destroying the environment, any modern society destroys its own future. For the prosperity of future generations, the environment must be preserved. To preserve nature, careful monitoring of the state of the environment, rationing and prevention of industrial emissions, development and implementation of waste-free and resource-saving technologies are required. The use of natural resources by a person with complete ignorance of the laws of nature often leads to dire, irreparable consequences. At present, humankind has begun to realize that any sector of the economy primarily affects the environment. And therefore, the world community is considering various mechanisms for preserving the environment. And of course, the idea of a green economy is one of them. A green economy is not just an opportunity, but an indispensable development path for all countries and states that aspire to ensure a reliable future for their citizens. The purpose of the study is to investigate the need and importance of the country's transition to a green economy; to research the experience of foreign countries in the transition to a green economy; to consider the ‘green economy’ as a legal phenomenon, as well as to investigate the legal issues of the transition and improvement of the regulatory framework of Kazakhstan for the transition to the green economy. The research methodology consists of materialistic dialectics, formal logical, historical law, system-analytical, comparative law and specific sociological research methods. Theoretical and practical recommendations for improving the current state mechanism for the transition to a green economy were proposed in the course of the study.

EXTRA RESOURCES POOL - A PREREQUISITE FOR HOSPITAL DISASTER RESILIENCE

Hospital resilience is function of an array of planning, organizational, physical and psychological features. They are related to the hospital staff readiness and preparedness, resources availability, type and stamina of the buildings and constructions, as well to the established communication and coordination within the region and country. When analyzing the disaster resilience, the main feature to be addressed is the disparity between required and available means and capabilities. The aim of this study is to analyze the hospital staff awareness regarding the need of focused resources planning for assuring the disaster hospital resilience. Material and methods: By the means of descriptive and comparative methods the records form diverse disaster medical support and hospitals involvement into the process are analyzed and the most frequent shortfalls regarding the resources exhaustion and its impact on hospital disaster resilience are presented. Dichotomous survey among 54 medical professionals was performed in order to discover their awareness regarding the existing into hospitals, they are working in, pools of resources dedicated for disaster medical support. Results and discussion: Great majority of the inquired hospital staff is demonstrating complete ignorance regarding the extra resources required in case of disastrous events. This could lead to improper use of the available resources when needed and to the poor disaster medical support results. Conclusion: Resources planning studies have to be more detailed during medical managers’ education.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAPITAL AND MINING POPULATION ON HERPES VIRUSES AND PERSPECTIVES OF CARE OF DENTISTRY

This study aimed to measure the level of knowledge of HZV in northern municipalities in the state of Espirito Santo and Northeast of Minas Gerais in order to analyze and compare the variables investigated on the herpes virus. Specifically aims to understand the perception of this population about the forms of contagion, activating factors of the virus and the mechanism of access to information. Therefore, we carried out a literature review and research linked to it through the study method of approach to the case. In selected areas, individuals from 10 cities in the North of the Holy Spirit and Northeast of Minas Gerais, participated answering structured questionnaire. The results showed that a significant percentage have little information or complete ignorance about the disease, modes of transmission and its consequences for health. Much of the sample is unaware of the importance of the dentist to provide information and to treat cold sores, in addition to a lack of health services have been observed to provide information about the disease, its clinical signs and prevention, through educational activities for the population and 19% of the population has herpes labialis. Thus, it is concluded that most educational measures should be carried out, understanding that the greater the knowledge, the lower the infection rates, leading individuals to prevent and to treat when detected the expression of pathogenic signals. in addition to a lack of health services have been observed to provide information about the disease, its clinical signs and prevention, through educational activities for the population and 19% of the population has herpes labialis. Thus, it is concluded that most educational measures should be carried out, understanding that the greater the knowledge, the lower the infection rates, leading individuals to prevent and to treat when detected the expression of pathogenic signals. in addition to a lack of health services have been observed to provide information about the disease, its clinical signs and prevention, through educational activities for the population and 19% of the population has herpes labialis. Thus, it is concluded that most educational measures should be carried out, understanding that the greater the knowledge, the lower the infection rates, leading individuals to prevent and to treat when detected the expression of pathogenic signals.

Asserting Ignorance

This article explores to what extent ignorance is assertable. More specifically, can one properly assert that one is ignorant with respect to some specific proposition p? This article argues that, depending on one’s account of ignorance, there are six or seven different kinds of ignorance. Subsequently, it examines whether or not each of these varieties of ignorance is assertable. It defends the view that only two out of six or seven kinds of ignorance are assertable, at least de dicto: what the author calls “suspending ignorance” and “undecided ignorance.” The other four or five kinds of ignorance are unassertable: what the author calls “disbelieving ignorance,” “unconsidered ignorance,” “deep ignorance,” “complete ignorance,” and, on some accounts of what it is to be ignorant, “unwarranted ignorance.” It turns out they are unassertable for very different reasons, though. Finally, the article applies its argument to two issues. First, the debate about whether there is inexpressible ignorance has focused entirely on various kinds of propositions or facts that are supposed to be such that one cannot express ignorance with regard to them. It has failed to pay attention to the various attitudes that ignorance can consist in. Second, Transparency as an account of self-knowledge may be true for belief and some other mental states, but not for various kinds of ignorance.