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Dangerous Liaisons in Syria: Is it a Civil War or a Proxy War?
The aggression involving the mass deportations and displacement, ethnic cleansing and evacuations of millions in Europe during World War Two, along with post-war border changes, continued population expulsions and repatriations meant that the prolonged chaos required common standards that would heal the hostilities and build bridges to support people seeking asylum from persecution. The violations against human rights values as expressed by the United Nations … Continue reading Dangerous Liaisons in Syria: Is it a Civil War or a Proxy War?
Can Anybody Hear Me?
“Can anybody hear me?” I turn and peer into the darkness, My mind a little weary. The altitude kaleidoscope the chorus Of a formless song. Sing, “I’m here. I’m here.” The volcanic light beneath my feet, Erupting smoke pirouettes over me. A gentle hand, a stroke across the cheek. “Mother? Is that you?” Succumbed to ennui. I choke, the fumes sting as I sing, “I’m … Continue reading Can Anybody Hear Me?
5 Minutes of Quasars
The binary system V404-Cygni 8,000 light years from earth is a microquasar that contains a black hole more than nine times the mass of our own sun. The best evidence of the existence of black holes comes from binary systems where visible stars orbit an unknown mass, and a recent find has shown V404-Cygni rapidly rotating and pulling gas from the nearby star and ejecting … Continue reading 5 Minutes of Quasars
Turkey: Political Polarisation and Media Laws
There has indeed been a great deal of political polarisation and tension in Turkey over the last decade, especially with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who have been viewed as attempting to bring back an Islamic Ottoman Centralism. There is an underlying current that murmurs sentiments the AKP party has been intentionally destroying the freedoms designed by Ataturk and enforcing state control over the … Continue reading Turkey: Political Polarisation and Media Laws
5 Minutes of Semiotics
Unlike Hermeneutics that is concerned with the methodological application of interpreting text, discourse and art, Semiotics captures the complex relationship between our interpretation of a sign and the meaning and significance this interpretation has to the structure of our representations. A sign is the medium that enables us to attach significance as we interpret certain features and mediate an effect that vehicles our understanding. Immanuel … Continue reading 5 Minutes of Semiotics
5 Minutes of Ideology
With the continuous discourse on ideology that is often accompanied by words such as terrorism, globalisation or imperialism, the definition is not only ambiguous but has an unsavoury association to other terms that are themselves vague. Indeed, there certainly exists an adverse meaning to ‘ideology’ as being a belief system that legitimises a doctrine for violence and subordination. But what exactly is ideology? An ideology is said to … Continue reading 5 Minutes of Ideology
5 Minutes of Ibn Hazm
Love exercises an effective authority, a decisive sovereignty over the soul! Its commands cannot be opposed, its ordinances may not be flouted, its rule is not to be transgressed. It demands unwavering obedience, and against its dominion there is no appeal. Love untwists the firmest plaits, and looses the tightest strands. It dissolves that which is most solid, undoes that which is most firm. It penetrates the … Continue reading 5 Minutes of Ibn Hazm
