From “Shock and Awe” to Asymmetric Warfare in Modern Military Warfare

This study aims to present the strategies from “Shock and Awe” to asymmetric warfare in modern military warfare. The main points in the article are: Introduction: The lessons of a war - The Yom Kippur War; In the years before the Yom Kippur War; After the Yom Kippur War, the American military understood that it had to focus on mobile and rapid warfare against regular armies, an issue that had been neglected over the past decade; The “Shock and Awe” battle strategy. In conclusion: a very important element for coping with asymmetric warfare is the psychological strength of the civilian population. As stated, one of the ways of warfare of the weak side against the strong side is the marking the psychological sensitivity of the civilian population of the strong side as a target. A psychological attack on the civilian population can manifest itself in the launching of missiles at it, the control of its information, the multiplicity of casualties of its soldiers and the sowing of a sense of frustration in it due to prolonged confrontation.

Manufacture of Gilded Threads in the 15-17th Centuries

Since ancient times, gilded threads have been used to decorate textiles in different cultures around the world. In the article, the author examines the threads manufacturing in the 16-17th centuries in Europe and Western Asia, trying to answer two, as it seems to him, the main questions: what was the method of gilding and what was the method of cutting if width error was less than 10 μm. It is assumed that the main gilding method was the diffusion one, and the main cutting method used rollers and a sharp blade at a small angle. The first one has not been proven but the second has been proved. The article lists all marks, diffusion and adhesion coefficients, human angular resolution, and much more.

Mysteries of Lake Copais: The Drainage – Massive Bronze Age and Hellenistic Hydraulic Engineering Works

Since the draining of Lake Copais in Boeotia in the late 19th century archaeological research has revealed Bronze Age hydraulic engineering works of such a scale as to be unique in Europe. Starting in the Middle Helladic period with dams, dikes and polders, the massive extension of the scheme in the Late Helladic period, with large canals and massive dikes, achieved the complete drainage of the lake; a feat not achieved again, despite Hellenistic attempts, until the 20th century. In this paper we attempt to draw together research in order to tell the history of Lake Copais through the ages.

The Hamas Movement: Ideology vs. Pragmatism

This study aims to present the Hamas Movement, its ideology and pragmatism. With progress and modernization, the Islamic movements in the Middle East realized that they could not deny progress, so they decided to join the mainstream and take advantage of technological progress in their favor. The movement maintains at least one website in which it publishes its way, and guides the audience. Although these movements seem to maintain a rigid ideology, they adapt themselves to reality with the help of many tools, because they have realized that reality is stronger than they are. In conclusions: the rise of the Islamist movements as a leading social and political force in the Middle East is the result of the bankruptcy of nationalism, secularism and the left in the Arab world, which created an ideological vacuum, which is filled to a large extent by the fundamentalists, ensuring that Islam is the solution. It is not only about the extent of the return to religion, but about the transformation of religion into a major political factor both by the regimes and by the opposition. These are political movements that deal first and foremost with the social and political mobilization of the masses, and they exert pressure to apply the Islamic law as the law of the state instead of the legal systems taken from the Western model. Islam is a belief rooted in the consciousness of the masses and deeply ingrained in Egyptian culture. In Israel, the situation is different, modernization and democracy also affects Israeli Arabs. Therefore, it is possible that Islam is not so deeply rooted in the culture of the Arab citizens of Israel, they are aware of the possibility of a different path other than Islam. The movements have developed over time tools that enable them to cope with reality. The religious law in Islam allows flexibility in organizing community life, Shari’a is adapted to reality because of the ruler's ability to canonize legislation and flexibility in political life according to principles such as sabra and long-term goals, to compromise with reality and find temporary solutions, as well as religious scholars who provide fatwas and commentaries on every subject.

The Mysteries of Lake Copais and the Island Fortress of Gla

The Bronze Age drainage of Lake Copais, Boeotia, is unique within Europe as the largest and most complex work of engineering of the period. Comprising large dams, polder dykes, canals, massive levees, cuttings and tunnels, it made at least 95km² of drained lake bed available for agricultural production. The first polders were established in the Middle Helladic period with great extensions in the Late Helladic. During the latter period the largest of all the Mycenaean citadels was constructed at Gla which had been a rocky island in the lake prior to the drainage. But exactly what type of settlement it was still remains something of a mystery. This paper draws together the history of research on the citadel of Gla.

The Islamic Movement in Israel: Ideology vs. Pragmatism

This study aims to present the Islamic Movement in Israel, its ideology and pragmatism. With progress and modernization, the Islamic movements in the Middle East realized that they could not deny progress, so they decided to join the mainstream and take advantage of technological progress in their favor. The movement maintains at least one website in which it publishes its way, and guides the audience. Although these movements seem to maintain a rigid ideology, they adapt themselves to reality with the help of many tools, because they have realized that reality is stronger than they are. The main points in the article are: The Status of Religion in Israel; The Legal Status of Muslim Sharia in Israel; Personal status according to Israeli law; The establishment of the Islamic Movement in Israel – Historical Background; The crystallization of movement; Theoretical Background – The Theory of Pragmatism; Ideology and goals of the Islamic Movement in Israel; The background to the split in the movement – the opposition to pragmatism; How the ideology of the movement is expressed in its activity? The movement’s attitudes toward the Israeli elections, the Oslo Accords and the armed struggle against Israel; How does pragmatism manifest itself in the movement’s activities?

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: Ideology vs. Pragmatism

This study aims to present the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, its ideology and pragmatism. With progress and modernization, the Islamic movements in the Middle East realized that they could not deny progress, so they decided to join the mainstream and take advantage of technological progress in their favor. The movement maintains at least one website in which it publishes its way, and guides the audience. Although these movements seem to maintain a rigid ideology, they adapt themselves to reality with the help of many tools, because they have realized that reality is stronger than they are. The main points in the article are: The status of religion in the country; What is the Muslim Brotherhood? According to which ideology is the movement taking place? - Movement background and ideology; Theoretical background – The theory of Pragmatism; How is pragmatism manifested in the activity of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? In conclusions: The rise of the Islamist movements as a leading social and political force in the Middle East is the result of the bankruptcy of nationalism, secularism and the left in the Arab world, which created an ideological vacuum, which is filled to a large extent by the fundamentalists, ensuring that Islam is the solution. It is not only about the extent of the return to religion, but about the transformation of religion into a major political factor both by the regimes and by the opposition. These are political movements that deal first and foremost with the social and political mobilization of the masses, and they exert pressure to apply the Islamic law as the law of the state instead of the legal systems taken from the Western model.

Asia Minor Refugee Associations in Lesvos (1914-1936)

This paper focuses on the formation and dynamic of the Asia Minor refugee association in Lesvos island (in Greece), during two historical periods: the period known as the First Persecution (Protos Diogmos, in Greek) (1914-1918) and the interwar period (1922-1936). Collectivities of first refugee generation are transformed into communities, unions and associations at the host country (Lesvos), trying to integrate into society and constitute their social reality, structuring new collective identities, collective memories and historical conscience. The present case study relies on primary sources and archival material. It provides us the possibility of both comparative study and exploration/analysis of Asia Minor’s refugee association development, since it constitutes part of an ongoing research regarding the Asia Minor Refugee Memory, resulting through genealogical succession within the Asia Minor’s Refugee Associations institutional context, in Lesvos.

The Cult of Itonia Athena and the Human Conscience

The cult of Athena as Itonia is today almost completely unknown. Even in antiquity it was limited to specific areas as a local cult of the Aeolian tribe of the Boeotians, where, however, it had universal currency. Known places of her cult are in Thessaly, Boeotia and the island of Amorgos. At the Boeotian city of Koroneia, although the sanctuary of Itonia Athena is referring by the ancient writers (Pausanias and Strabo), its location has not been securely identified and the character of her cult is not well known. The available evidence (literary testimonies, mythological reports and archaeological data) suggest that her worship in Koroneia was a peculiar kind of mystery cult, which had accepted the influence of Orphism. This article highlights the properties of the forms involved in this secret cult and interpret the content of her worship in a philosophical context, with reference mainly to Aristotle’s work “On Memory and Remembrance”. The view supported by the present article is that her worship was oriented towards the achievement of self-awareness, to the Delphic oracular maxim “know thyself” (γνώθι σαυτόν). That was considered essential for the formation of the cultural consciousness of the societies of ancient Greece. This is a parameter of knowledge that in our modern societies has been forgotten, leading consequently to the misinterpretation of cultural development and a completely different perception of cultural memory and consciousness.

Images of War in Opera

The main aim of this article is to raise questions with wars seen as part of cultural history attempting, thus, to provide a cultural reading. As such, I attempt to show operatic responses to war, to the meaning of violence, and to the ways they illustrate emotions that are at the core of such destructive activities (that is, patriotism, heroism and so forth) and depict wartime ideologies, practices, values and symbols. This paper is a critical and selective overview of images of war in opera mainly up to the twentieth century. There is no aspect in human activities which is not related, more or less, with the issue of war. War has been part of the total human experience. Subsequently, my paper is about the various ways of projecting images of war in opera. In more detail, it is about the ways that opera, since the era of its birth, responds to human conflicts, named wars, and bring on stage an interpretation: an illustration of a hero, a context of values related to the necessity or the avoidance of war, a message to humanity to make us look at our civilization in either positive or negative ways. A cultural contemplation is not about “truths” of the war but raises the question as to how different “truths” inhabit the political and cultural Western European world by means of the total work of art of opera. Opera has had a fundamental role in privileging some ideals of “truths” from others. The main aim is to raise questions with wars seen as part of cultural history attempting, thus, to provide a cultural reading. As such, I attempt to show operatic responses to war, to the meaning of violence, and to the ways they illustrate emotions that are at the core of such destructive activities (that is, patriotism, heroism and so forth) and depict wartime ideologies, practices, values and symbols.