History and My Story » History

Connections Between KSM Trial and Dreyfus Affair?

buell — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:12:46 +0000

Last week when we were discussing the Dreyfus trial we brought up the differences between a military court trial and a public court trial. These differences are a hot topic again with the announcement that the suspected mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be tried in a civilian court in NYC. Watch the discussion on last Sunday’s (11/22/09) Meet the Press and weigh in here with your thoughts.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And if you are in the dark about this situation this NY Times article will get you up to speed.

Still Controversial After 150 Years

buell — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:06:08 +0000

Any guesses? If you’re thinking Darwin, you’d be correct. This film stars some well-known actors and opened in the UK back in September. What then is taking so long for the film to be shown in the U.S? Is it fear of religious backlash or fear that there isn’t a market for a film about history/science? Maybe a little of both. Watch the trailer and tell us what you think.

The film also has a very cool and very informative website.

On the other hand….Poland 20 years after 1989

buell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:13:10 +0000

Democracy and free media go hand in hand:

Tiananmen Square–20 years after 1989

buell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:02:12 +0000

Excellent account from CNN reporters in Bejing on how the government is controlling the “news” about the 20th anniversay of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and crackdown. Listen for our key term “dissident” 20 seconds into the piece. Also, why are colleges and universities stepping up their “security” forces during the anniversary period? Which internet sites are being blocked by the Chinese government? Why these sites in particular do you think?

By the way, WordPress the site that hosts this blog is banned in China…..only once last year did my cluster map show a hit from China—and none so far this year.

And here is an account of one man, Bao Tung, and what he is doing to spread the truth about what happened at Tiananmen Square 20 years ago. Notice, that after this interview he is suddenly away from his apartment on a “government tour.” That sounds sketchy to me.

And finally, there is one place in China where they are remembering 1989—Hong Kong, SAR. Do you remember why the rules are different there? What is the Chinese government doing to keep these observations in check?

Guantanamo Debate

buell — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:02:23 +0000

American University graduate and Meet The Press moderator, David Gregory, explains Obama’s position and Cheney’s criticism concerning the detainees currently held at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And here is an interesting take on Gitmo from the Russian perspective. Remember, the Russians have a lot of experience with terrorism. This report is from 2007 when criticism of President Bush’s policies was very high.

Memorial Day- 2009

buell — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:38:36 +0000

I don’t why I didn’t think of this sooner, but the U.S. Army has a terrific website–that I stumbled upon quite accidentally while looking for inspiration for a Memorial Day post.

Among the wealth of information about a variety of topics I saw this video that puts history in perspective. Crazy to think that a million years ago Germany was tropical!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

buell — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:19:28 +0000

Truthfully, just too much going on today to do this post justice…but I wrote alot last year so if you are curious about today’s holiday check out my post from May 5th 2008 here. Anyone up for answering the questions I posed last year can do so by commenting on this post.

Propaganda

buell — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:38:17 +0000

While preparing for my DC trip with Pat and Ronnie, I’ve been checking out the current exhibits at the United States Holocaust Museum. It is amazing how much more information is currently being shared on-line than ever before. I came across this short video series that delves into the use of propaganda—-how it can contribute to genocide, but also asks the difficult, anti-democratic question of whether using “good propaganda” can help a country heal after a genocide.

Other interesting exhibits include: A gallery of Nazi propaganda images (check out “The Poisonous Mushroom” an antisemitic children’s book that was read in schools); Mapping the Holocaust which helps students understand geography, which is important when you consider the Holocaust spanned 20 countries; American response to the Holocaust–for better, but often for worse; and others that deal with Kristallnacht, Nazi persecution of the handicapped and homosexual and children’s experiences during the Holocaust.

Check some or all of these sites out and report back on what you have learned by commenting here.

History of All This…

buell — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:29:58 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard of Thomas Friedman and his book The World is Flat (currently selling in version 3.0). Here is a lecture he gave at MIT not too long ago about the his groundbreaking work. The entire lecture is quite long—so if you haven’t got the patience to listen to that much talking over vacation week you might just want to skip past the introduction (where Friedman discusses his background and what led him to this topic) and go straight to 5:15 in when he gives a history lesson on how we got to this point. In hindsight it all makes perfect sense…but at the time no one could have predicted that the decisions that were made when you were all babies would have produced this crazy world where we are all connected through the technology that gave us Facebook and YouTube….but also gave the world the ability to not just socialize across continents, but to actually work across continents.

Also, see 33:10 when Friedman discusses China and 36:56 when he examines the concept of the “Green Revolution” which he says is more of a “party” than a “revolution.” What do you think?

Cap and Trade???

buell — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:45:32 +0000

This part of Obama’s plan is being met with a lot of criticism lately. Wondering why? The Council on Foreign Relation’s website has an interview with several leading economists who give their opinions for and against “cap and trade.” I also added this site to my blogroll. Their website is (in their own words) “an online resource for everyone in these turbulent times who wants to learn more about the complex international issues challenging policymakers and citizens alike. “