Ras Rumman

Here a street in Ras Rumman, a Shi'ite neighborhood in Manama, is decorated for Ashura.

Arabsat Drops al-Alam

Arabsat, owned by a member (or members? I lose track.) of the Saudi royal family has dropped Iran's Arabic-language news channel:

"Iran's Arabic-language television network Al Alam said on Wednesday it has again been taken off air by a Saudi-based satellite operator amid simmering tensions between Shi'ite Iran and US-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia.

"Analysts say Riyadh and several other Arab governments allied to the United States are worried about a rise in Tehran's influence in the region through Shi'ite minorities.

"Al Alam said in November that both the Saudi-based Arabsat network and Nilesat in Cairo had halted its broadcasting. In a statement yesterday, it said Arabsat later resumed broadcasting, before halting it again. It did not give details."

Sheikh Jarrah

I wouldn't call it a revolution, but events in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah are starting to put the Israeli left back in the public consciousness. The story goes back to last summer:

"A mixed group of Israeli and international human rights activists have been gathering weekly since August in this residential neighborhood to protest the eviction of two extended Palestinian families - a total of 53 people - from the homes they had occupied since 1956. Originally refugees from areas that became part of Israel after the 1948 war, the families were settled in the abandoned houses, then under Jordanian control, by UN refugee authorities...

"The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Sheikh Jarrah houses had belonged to Jews before 1948, when the city was divided between Jordan and the new state of Israel. The court ruling paved the way for the evictions, which were carried out by Israeli border police who broke into the homes in the pre-dawn hours of August 2, 2009, and evicted the families by force. One of the Palestinian families has since lived in a tent pitched nearby."

Let's first note what this shows about what counts as legal in Israel. A Jew is permitted to reclaim land in Jerusalem from before the war, and people who have lived there for half a century are rounded up and evicted in the middle of a night. A Palestinian with property in Israel they had to abandon during 1948, however, is probably not even allowed to enter Israel.

What's getting attention in Israel is the police treatment of protesters, which itself has spawned a larger protest:

"In Sheikh Jarrah this week the demonstration was even bigger than those of previous weeks. 350 demonstrators, amongst them former minister and Knesset Chair Avraham Burg, former minister Yossi Sarid, MK Muhamad Barak’e and former MK Uri Avneri, gathered in a park near the neighborhood to protest the racist evictions taking place there in spite of intensifying police oppression of the struggle (see last week’s report). Two demonstrators offered the police officer in charge, Avi Cohen, a big bouquet of flowers, thanking him for helping the struggle gain nationwide attention by arresting about 20 activists every week. Cohen refused to accept the flowers and they were left at his feet.

"After about an hour of demonstrating in a tense atmosphere, demonstrators started marching towards the neighborhood. Border and Riot policemen stopped the march, while still allowing settlers and visitors of the Shimon Hat’sadik Tomb through. After a quarter of an hour police attacked the demonstration, arresting about 15 people and beating on others. The demonstration continued for another two and half hours, with police occasionally beating people and shoving them back, but attempting to avoid too many more arrests. The day ended with 22 arrested.

"During the demonstration it became apparent that settlers were attacking Palestinians inside the neighborhood, and two residents required medial care. At the same time police raided Palestinian homes and arrested people who participated in the demonstration and then went home. The demonstrators’ protests outside against the police’s siding with the violent settlers were met with yet more police brutality."

The first arrests, it should be noted, were ruled illegal by Israel's Supreme Court. Beyond the issues in Sheikh Jarrah and East Jerusalem more broadly, many Israelis are concerned about a long-term deterioration in human rights in the country. The crackdown on visas for NGO workers in the Palestinian territories also probably represents part of this.

(Crossposted to American Footprints)

Netanyahu in the Settlements

Benjamin Netanyahu once again demonstrates his commitment to peace:

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised to build in the settlement cities of Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim, as well as in Gush Etzion, only hours after US special envoy George Mitchell left Israel without showing any tangible signs that he had moved Israel or the Palestinians closer to the negotiating table.

"The Palestinians have insisted they will only speak with Israel after it has stopped building in West Bank settlements and in east Jerusalem...

"In the afternoon, however, he reaffirmed his commitment to the settlement blocs of Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion when he called them an indisputable part of Israel.

"In advance of Tu Bishvat, which marks the new year for trees, Netanyahu planted a tree both in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion in Gush Etzion and in Ma'aleh Adumim. It was Netanyahu's first visit toWest Bank settlements since he took office at the end of last March...

"With these trees, Netanyahu said he wanted to 'send a clear message that we are here. We will stay here. We are planning and we are building.'"

On one level, Netanyahu is correct that most of those territories are likely to remain Israeli under any negotiated agreement, although Ma'aleh Adumim slices the West Bank nearly in two. The timing, however, simply allows him to thumb his nose at the Obama administration and reaffirm his status as a right-wing nationalist for whom peace means dominance over a foe who has no choice but to accept your dictates.

Note also the PNA's simple condition for resuming negotiations: Israel mus stop building in the territory which, in the eyes of the international community, is the subject of negotiations. This is a condition the Netanyahu government is unwilling to meet. Why should Israel end their slow ingestion of Palestinian land when they pay no price, and their ultimate victory comes ever closer?

Barnafoss

This is Barnafoss, along the Hvita River in western Iceland. In former times it was spanned by a stone archway, but, in I believe the 1700's, two children fell from it to their deaths, and the mother had it destroyed.

World History II

Here's my World History II syllabus. It's short on primary sources, but I plan to toss in on-line ones as the semester goes along.

HIS 106: World History II
102 Dauphin Humanities Center, MWF 8:00 a.m.
Dr. Brian J. Ulrich

The road to the future begins in the past.

Office: 201 Dauphin Humanities Center, ex. 1736
Office Hours: 11 – 11:50 a.m. MWF, 1-3:30 p.m. W
E-mail: bjulrich@ship.edu

Required Texts:

Voyages in World History, Vol.II, Valerie Hansen and Kenneth R. Curtis
The Origins of the Modern World, 2nd Ed., Robert Marks
Science and Technology in World History, 2nd Ed., James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn

Electronic reserves found on Blackboard

Course Overview

World History II is required under the “Required Skills and Competencies” category of the Shippensburg University general education program. This is not based solely on the value of understanding what people did in the past. As we will see, historians reconstruct the past on the basis of many types of evidence, evidence that must be considered carefully. This root skill of considering evidence has applications in many professional fields and in forming considered opinions as a member of society. Historians write our conclusions in the form of reasoned arguments about what we think happened. Studying these will help you to evaluate arguments in many fields, and ultimately to make your own. When historians make these arguments, they refer to their evidence with particular forms which we will study. You may never use these specific forms after this class, but the habit of following a specified professional form is something you will need to have for many fields.

As noted in the “General Education” section of the undergraduate catalog, this course is also designed to ensure that students have a global perspective as they proceed with their college education, and for that matter the rest of their lives. This will help you not only make informed decisions about the world, but may come in handy in your careers and personal lives when you least expect it. To take just one example, a friend who works in a hospital in Minnesota found herself wishing she knew a lot more about the culture of Somalia when a number of Somali refugees were settled in her area and started coming in for treatment. World history is an excellent field in which to begin developing what higher education specialists call “global competence,” as not only do we learn about different cultures, but we’ll see how they came to be the way they are, which in my experience, makes people more respectful and understanding of the differences.

During the course, we will address these key questions:

1.) What have been the major changes in human societies during the last 500 years? Some historians argue that the changes of the past few centuries in how we think and live have been the most dramatic since the Neolithic Revolution. What were these changes, what led to them, and how have they affected different societies around the world?

2.) How did such a substantial gap emerge between the North Atlantic nations on one hand and the rest of the world on the other? Today, the vast majority of the world’s wealth is concentrated in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe while much of the world lives off meager income without even basic services. Given that China, India, and the Middle East had been the most developed regions for most of history, the reasons for this change need to be examined in detail.

3.) What has been (and is) the relationship between Western Europe and later, the United States, and the rest of the world? As noted above, one skill this course is designed to develop is global competence for an increasingly globalized world. Interacting in that world means understanding how you fit into it.

4.) How have major events of the 20th century shaped the world in which we live? All history affects the present. History, however, is ongoing, and events of today follow most directly upon what immediately preceded them. In fact, as well shall see, even when the media presents a conflict as resulting from some ancient enmity, its causes are really more immediate. The final section of this course will consider key developments of the 20th century which have played a critical role in shaping the world around us.

With these themes as our focus, assignments will ensure you develop a foundational understanding of world history since 1500, an ability to write clearly and think critically about world history since 1500, an ability to analyze historical events and trends effectively, and the ability to do independent research and analyze the historical context of contemporary events. There will be three exams during the course of the semester, which will not all have the same format. The final exam will emphasize the last section of the course, but still have a cumulative component. There will also be a paper in which you analyze the historical context of some aspect of the world today on the basis of independent research. Deadlines and exam dates are noted on the “Schedule of Readings and Major Assignments” below. Attendance and participation are mandatory. Students are allowed to miss three classes. After that, your total participation grade will be lowered by 5% for each additional absence. Late papers will be accepted, but with a penalty usually amounting to one full letter grade. Late take-home exams are acceptable only under extraordinary circumstances. Laptops are permitted in class, but if I notice you doing something not related to the course, that will hurt your participation grade, as well.

In addition, I will sometimes specify certain things you should look for in the reading for the next class, with the request that you either jot down notes or write a short paragraph on those things. This will occasionally be collected, and there will be no warning when it does. The purpose of this is both to make sure that everyone is doing the reading, and that people are understanding what they read and how it relates to the major concepts of the course. I will also probably give the occasional reading quiz. In the past, students have found my reading quizzes comically easy.

Syllabus Changes:

Occasionally I find I want to make minor changes to the syllabus. These are usually substitutions of different readings or additional short primary sources and will not result in increased work or changes in the dates of exams and major assignments. These will be announced in class, and it is the student’s responsibility to learn of them.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism, simply put, is intellectual theft. If you use words or ideas from someone else in an academic or professional setting, and do not give them proper credit, you have stolen from them. This is true even if the work has been posted in a public forum, such as a web site. It includes:

1.) Outright plagiarism – direct copying of a source, passing off the author’s words and ideas as one’s own without crediting the source
2.) Mosaic plagiarism – lifting words or phrases from the original source, again without crediting that source
3.) Echo plagiarism – no words are stolen, but ideas are lifted, again without crediting the source

Because of all this, plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty (cheating) will not be tolerated and handled according to Shippensburg procedures. Specific guidelines for expected citation policies will be announced with each assignment. The easiest way to avoid plagiarizing is always to cite as much as possible. Citing too much is almost impossible to do. Citing too little could lead to failing an assignment, the course as a whole, or even expulsion from the university. In order to prevent plagiarism, I ask that all assignments be submitted via turnitin.com.

Frankly, you should want to cite things even if it weren’t for the consequences of plagiarism. The flip side of plagiarism is generosity, acknowledging the debt you have to the work of others. Even when professional historians have an idea of their own, they will often include a footnote mentioning that they got the idea after talking to a colleague, or even from discussion in a class they were teaching. Sometimes when they cite a book or article, they will mention that it was recommended to them by a friend, whom they name. You may not know the people who created the sources you will cite here at Shippensburg, but acknowledging things others have done to help you is a good habit to get into for life, and proper citation is a good start.

(Note: I am indebted to Professor Betty Dessants for her description of the types of plagiarism.)

Disability Accomodation:

If you feel you may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs at least 72 hours prior to the activity which requires the accommodation. If you have not already done so, you must contact the Office of Disability Services. This office is responsible for determining reasonable and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities on a case-by-case basis, and more generally, for ensuring that members of the community with disabilities have access to Shippensburg’s programs and services. They also assist students in identifying and managing the factors that may interfere with learning and in developing strategies to enhance learning. I cannot approve an accommodation without you registering.

Grading:

Quizzes and Reading Thoughts: 10%
Paper: 15%
Participation: 10%
First Exam: 15%
Second Exam: 25%
Final Exam: 25%

Useful terms:

Primary sources – The original materials historians use to reconstruct the past
Secondary sources – The accounts modern historians write based on primary sources
Historiography – The study of secondary sources


Schedule of Readings and Major Assignments

January 20 – Course Introduction
Part I – World of the 1500’s
January 22 – Marks, pp. 1-19 (about modern world history)

January 25 – Marks, pp. 21-42 (agrarian society)
January 27 – Marks, pp. 67-74; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 421-31 (polities of 1500)
January 29 – Marks, pp. 43-66; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 436-40 (European expansion)

February 1 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 450-60; Michael Pearson, “Europeans in an Indian Ocean World,” The Indian Ocean, (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 113-30. (Europeans in the Indian Ocean)
February 3 – Marks, pp. 74-79; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 440-47; Alfred Crosby, “Selection on Smallpox,” Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. 2nd ed., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 196-208. (Conquest of Americas)
February 5 - Marks, pp. 79-82; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 463-8, 472-6, 568-79 (Far East)

February 8 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 460-3, 471-2; Scott C. Levi, “Conclusion,” The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and its Trade, 1550-1900, (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 261-6. (Mughal Empire)
February 10 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 480-90, 503-7 (Ottoman, Safavid and Russian Empires)
February 12 – Exam – World of the 1500’s

Part II – Global Transformations
February 15 - Hansen and Curtis, pp. 431-6, 468-71; Passages from Martin Luther’s “Address to the Nobility of the German Nation” (Renaissance and Reformation)
February 17 – Marks, pp. 84-94; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 490-503 (European states)
February 19 – Hansen and Curtis, 557-61; Benedict Anderson, “The Origins of National Consciousness,” Imagined Communities, New Edition, (London: Verso, 2006), pp. 36-46 (horizontal identities)

February 22 – Marks, pp. 82-4; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 538-56, Slave narrative excerpts (Slavery and plantation economy)
February 24 - Hansen and Curtis, pp. 510-534 (American societies)
February 26 – Marks, pp. 95-101; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 583-90; Wendy Doniger, “Translations, Lost in Colonization,” The Hindus: An Alternative History, (New York: Penguin Press, 2009), pp. 594-8. (British in India)

March 1 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 589-93; Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, “The Russians are Coming,” Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia, (Washington: Counterpoint, 1999), pp. 111-36. (Russian Empire)
March 3 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 598-608, 613-25; McClellan and Dorn, pp. 249-56, 266-73 (Scientific Revolution)
March 5 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 608-13, 628-44 (Enlightenment and revolution)

SPRING BREAK

March 15 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 644-57; Mark Pendergrast, “The Coffee Kingdoms,” Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, (New York: Basic Books, 1999), pp. 21-41 (Latin American independence)
March 17 – Marks, pp. 101-21; Hansen and Curtis, 663-67; McClellan and Dorn, pp. 287-9 (Industrial Revolution)
March 19 – Marks, pp. 135-42; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 668-87 (industrial ideologies and societies)

March 22 – Marks, pp. 123-35, 142-6; Hansen and Curtis, pp. 752-69 (new imperialism)
March 24 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 590-5, 702-9, 769-81 (imperialism in Far East)
March 26 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 720-49 (Western Hemisphere)

March 29 – Marks, pp. 146-51; Mike Davis, “Skeletons at the Feast,” Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World, (London: Verso, 2002), pp. 141-76 (ENSO famines)
March 31 – Exam ID Section – Global Transformations
April 2 – Exam Essay Portion – Global Transformations

Part III – The World in Which We Live
April 5 – McClellan and Dorn, pp. 339-64 (20th century technology)
April 7 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 782-800 (World War I)
April 9 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 800-09 (communism and revolution)

April 12 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 812-41 (Great Depression) (annotated paper bibliography due)
April 14 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 844-66, Yale Holocaust testimonies (World War II, Holocaust)
April 16 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 866-70, 874-87 (Cold War)

April 19 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 887-905 (decolonization)
April 21 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 930-8, 945-52; Kim Fellner, “Banking on the Bean,” Wrestling with Starbucks, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2008), pp. 47-68 (globalization)
April 23 – Hansen and Curtis, pp. 921-4, 963-6; Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families, (New York: Picador, 1998), pp. 47-62. (ethnic identity and conflict)

April 26 - McClellan and Dorn, pp. 391-414 (modern science) (paper due)
April 28 – Marks, pp. 189-94, Hansen and Curtis, pp. 958-62; Environmental diplomacy reading (environmental issues and global leadership)
April 30 – Marks, pp. 199-207, Global community reading (end)

Final Exam: TBA

Baseball and Politics

So, will Martha Coakley turn into the Bill Buckner of health care reform?

It's difficult sometimes not to compare being a Democrat to rooting for a cursed sports team. My first reaction was a Cubs analogy, but under the circumstances, the Boston Red Sox seemed more appropriate, and perhaps more hopeful in the long run.

The Rotating Turkmenbashi

Turkmenistan's President Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is having one of his predecessor's most well-known statues removed:

"The removal of the statue and the 75-meter-tall Arch of Neutrality tower which it tops will 'improve the architectural image of Ashgabat,' state-run news agency Turkmen Khabarlary said late on Sunday.

"The 12-meter high gold-plated effigy, which rotates to face the sun, is one of the capital's main landmarks and can seen from almost anywhere in the city center. Berdymukhammedov first suggested removing it in 2008.

"A new, higher tower will be built in a southern suburb of the city to replace 'the tripod' -- a nickname Ashgabat residents have given to the old monument which stands on three legs."

Sayf al-Islam al-Qadhafi

George Joffe notes an important development in Libya:

"Some weeks later, it seemed that Saif al-Islam’s patience had finally paid off. On October 6, 2009, Colonel Qadhafi, while attending a commemoration for the Union of Free Officers (the movement that planned and executed the 1969 revolution), called on Libyans to create a formal position for his 37 year old son so that he could properly serve them. The next day, the Libyan Socialist Popular Leadership, a body that brings together heads of tribes and social institutions, proposed that he should become coordinator of its organizing committee, a position that made Saif al-Islam the second most powerful person in the Libyan hierarchy after his father. His appointment was confirmed ten days later.

"The significance of this appointment cannot be overstated. It is, in effect, the formal endorsement of Colonel Qadhafi’s second son as his successor through a process of republican dynasticism, thus ending the speculation of recent years over how the succession process in Libya is to be managed. Yet it is also a mechanism by which Saif al-Islam has been domesticated within the current Libyan political system, despite all his ambitions to reform it profoundly. It remains to be seen how compromised his reform agenda might be in consequence. It is also not clear whether Saif al-Islam has built up all the informal alliances within the power structure, the security forces, and the tribes that will be necessary if he is to preserve the freedom of action he will undoubtedly need to counter pressure from regime radicals (and possibly his brothers too) to displace him."

El Baradei's Impact

Issandr El Amrani has assessed the impact of Muhammad El Baradei's possible presidential candidacy in Egypt:

"The response to ElBaradei's advent on the political scene spoke volumes about tensions within the elite. Pro-regime newspapers immediately went on an offensive of insinuations (ElBaradei was accused of being a tool of both Washington and Tehran, out of touch, and secretly Swedish), only to be pushed back by a chorus of indignation by establishment voices left and right. One might not like ElBaradei, this consensus held, but his achievements and stature must be respected; not for him the smear campaigns used against the likes of politician Ayman Nour or civil rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim (as unfair as those might have been).

"Considering that ElBaradei knows that the constitution is unlikely to be amended again, it is fair to view his position as a call for radical change outside of the present constitutional and legal framework. Indeed, it is hard to see alternatives to such a deus ex machina considering the legal and political advantages enjoyed by the regime. But even within the current system, his views might have repercussions. ElBaradei's call for internationally-monitored elections (a first for any major opposition figure) might bring greater scrutiny to 2010's parliamentary polls (in spring and fall, respectively, for the Shura Council and the People's Assembly). Moreover, he has amplified public attention to the presidential election scheduled for the following year. Some believe that Gamal Mubarak will find it much more difficult to run in 2011 (or before that should his father pass away) if ElBaradei is the face of the opposition, and suggest that President Mubarak is now almost certain to run for a sixth term."

Eitedal Theker Allah

Saudi Arabia is introducing a new textbook including work by a contemporary female poet:

"For the first time in Saudi Arabia's history, little girl students are reciting a poem written by a Saudi female poet...

"The two poems entitled My motherland and My teacher were part of her collection of poems entitled The Songs of the Nightingale. The collection, released four years ago, is aimed at children ages five to nine.

"It is the first collection of poems intended for children in Saudi Arabia, according to Eitedal, who studied Arabic language and literature at King Faisal University."

Kuwait's Labor Laws

I haven't thought much about current events since I've been here, but Kuwait is continuing to modify its labor laws. First there is this:

"The Kuwaiti parliament passed a new labour law to guarantee better rights and conditions for its over 2.3 million foreign workers. However, its controversial sponsor system remains...

"Workers serving in the private sector would see more rights under the new law, including better annual leave and end of service indemnities and holidays.

"There are also stricter punishments including jail terms, for those who trade in visas or recruit expatriate workers and do not provide them with jobs, or fail to regularly pay their salaries."

Although enforcement will be a key, this law seems aimed to end abuses of the current system without altering the fundamentals of that system itself. Meanwhile, there's another example of reforms induced by a labor exporting country:

"Indonesia is likely to lift a ban it slapped last September on sending workers to Kuwait following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would help improve migrant workers' conditions...

"The memorandum is expected to include the introduction of a mandatory monthly minimum wage and a weekly holiday for Indonesian workers and will put an end to employers retaining workers' passports...

"Many Indonesian workers in Kuwait have complained that they could not leave the country after facing problems mainly because of the lack of cooperation from their sponsors, he said. Citing increasing problems confronting Indonesian domestic staff in Kuwait, Jakarta last September banned the employment of its nationals in the Gulf state."

The article mentions that 600 housemaids are currently sheltering at the Indonesian embassy in Kuwait City.

Amazight TV

Morocco has launched a TV station in Amazight Berber.

In Kuwait

I'm in Kuwait through the end of next week. Expect slow to no blogging until I return.