Welcome to Sott.net
Sat, 02 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Secret History
Map

Question

Brief history of the Ukrainians

Vladislav B. Sotirovic
Oriental Review
Fri, 26 Jan 2018 13:59 UTC
Historical Map of Ukraine
Ukraine is an East European territory which was originally forming a western part of the Russian Empire from the mid-17th century. That is a present-day independent state and separate ethnolinguistic nation as a typical example of Benedict Anderson's theory-model of the "imagined community" - a self-constructed idea of the artificial ethnic and linguistic-cultural identity. Before 2014 Ukraine was a home of some 46 million inhabitants of whom, according to the official data, there were around 77 percent of those who declared themselves as the Ukrainians. Nevertheless, many Russians do not consider the Ukrainians or the Belarus as "foreign" but rather as the regional branches of the Russian nationality. It is a matter of fact that, differently to the Russian case, the national identity of the Belarus or the Ukrainians was never firmly fixed as it was always in the constant process of changing and evolving [on the Ukrainian self-identity construction, see: Karina V. Korostelina, Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power: Self-Imagination in a Young Ukrainian Nation, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2014].

The process of self-constructing identity of the Ukrainians after 1991 is basically oriented vis-à-vis Ukraine's two most powerful neighbors: Poland and Russia. In the other words, the self-constructing Ukrainian identity (like the Montenegrin or the Belarus) is able so far just to claim that the Ukrainians are not both the Poles or the Russians but what they really are is of a great debate. Therefore, an existence of an independent state of Ukraine, nominally as a national state of the Ukrainians, is of a very doubt indeed from both perspectives: historical and ethnolinguistic.
      Read More...
Magnify

Has the mysterious Voynich manuscript finally been deciphered?


RT
Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:35 UTC
Voynich manuscript
© Universal History Archive / UIG / Getty images
Mysterious text from the Voynich codex, a brightly illustrated ancient manuscript, may finally have been deciphered, according to a new study from computer scientists in Canada.

For decades codebreakers have poured over the 240-page relict, from which pages have been carbon dated back to the early 1400s. It has been suggested that the manuscript, which is housed at the Beinecke Library at Yale University and contains brightly colored images of plants and an unknown language, is a medieval medical journal for women.

But the purpose of, or information within, the Voynich codex has never been agreed upon by researchers and academics - despite the best efforts of WWII enigma code breakers in Britain. Named after Wilfrid Voynich, the man who brought the text to wider knowledge in the early 20th century, the codex could also be an elaborate hoax, as suggested by Keele University linguist Gordon Rugg.

However, now Greg Kondrak from the University of Alberta claims to have made strides in deciphering the seemingly lost language contained within the codex pages, reported CBC News.

Comment: See also: Simple solution for deciphering Voynich manuscript met with skepticism
This week, the venerable Times Literary Supplement published as its cover story a "solution" for the Voynich manuscript. The article by Nicholas Gibbs suggests the manuscript is a medieval women's-health manual copied from several older sources. And the cipher is no cipher at all, but simply abbreviations that, once decoded, turn out to be medicinal recipes.


      Read More...
Document

"Wanted for treason" flyer distributed in Dallas before JFK's assassination

Rebecca Onion
Slate
Fri, 15 Nov 2013 13:00 UTC
jfk assassination dallas
© East News/ UPI Photo / eyevine
This flyer, around 5,000 copies of which were distributed around Dallas in the days before President Kennedy's November 22, 1963 visit, accused Kennedy of a range of offenses, from being "lax" on Communism, to "appointing anti-Christians to Federal office," to lying to the American people about his personal life.

General Edwin A. Walker, a Texan who served in World War II and the Korean War, had resigned his Army post in 1961 after a Kennedy-ordered investigation found that he had violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity on the job, by distributing John Birch Society literature to his troops. Walker moved to Dallas and became a leader of right-wing activity in the city (more on the full range of that activity here). The ex-General led resistance to James Meredith's 1962 enrollment at the University of Mississippi and unsuccessfully ran for the position of Texas governor.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Dig

British archaeologists find 10,000-year-old 'crayon' in Scarborough


BBC News
Fri, 26 Jan 2018 19:07 UTC
10,000 year old crayon
© University of York
The crayon was discovered near the site of an ancient lake
An ochre crayon thought to have been used to draw on animal skins 10,000 years ago has been found by archaeologists.

The crayon, which is just 22mm long, was discovered near the site of an ancient lake which is now covered in peat near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

An ochre pebble was found at another site on what would have been the opposite side of the lake.

The area is near one of the most famous Mesolithic sites in Europe, Star Carr.
      Read More...
Dig

Oldest known Homo sapiens remains outside Africa unearthed in Israeli cave

Will Dunham
Channel News Asia
Fri, 26 Jan 2018 03:05 UTC
oldest human remains found israel
© Israel Hershkovitz/Tel Aviv University / Reuters
A close-up view of the teeth accompanying the left maxilla of human remains from Misliya Cave in Israel, the oldest remains of our species Homo sapiens found outside Africa, is provided in this photo released on January 25, 2018.
A partial jawbone bearing seven teeth unearthed in a cave in Israel represents what scientists are calling the oldest-known Homo sapiens remains outside Africa, showing that our species trekked out of that continent far earlier than previously known.

Researchers on Thursday announced the discovery of the fossil estimated as 177,000 to 194,000 years old, and said the teeth bore telltale traits of Homo sapiens not present in close human relatives alive at the time including Neanderthals.

The fossil of the left part of the upper jaw of a young adult - the person's sex remains unclear - came from Misliya Cave on Mount Carmel's western slopes about 7.5 miles (12 km) south of Haifa. Also found inside the large collapsed cave, once inhabited by humans, were blades and other stone tools that were sophisticated for the time, several hearths and burned animal bones.
      Read More...
Pistol

Bergman book: Israel planned to shoot down passenger jet in Arafat assassination plot


RT
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:15 UTC
Arafat
© Finbarr O'Reilly
Israeli plans, to assassinate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, included a plot to blow up passenger planes and football stadiums, according to an explosive new book by Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman.

The extensive revelations are published in, Rise and Kill First: The secret history of Israel's targeted killings. The New York Times published an extract from the book on Tuesday.

According to Bergmen, when former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was defense minister, he ordered the Israeli army to shoot down a passenger plane Arafat was thought to be on. Arafat was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the time. Although the plan was eventually called off, it was allegedly one of a list of plans to to assassinate the Palestinian leader.

Bergman spoke to hundreds of intelligence and defense officials and studied classified documents which have revealed a "hidden history, surprising even in the context of Israel's already fierce reputation."

I found that since World War II, Israel has used assassination and targeted-killing more than any other country in the West, in many cases endangering the lives of civilians," Bermen wrote in the NYT, pointing to the history of debate that takes place over these issues.

Comment: The activities that are reported and shared with the public are but a glimpse in comparison to the planned, ongoing or completed machinations of dynamics-changers such as the infamous Mossad and its secret history.

      Read More...
Russian Flag

Putin's message at annual Leningrad siege World War 2 memorial: Never again

Nick Ivanov
Russia Feed
Fri, 26 Jan 2018 15:37 UTC
Putin Leningrad memorial WW2


Putin spoke on the 75th anniversary of breaking the Leningrad Siege which claimed his brother's life

He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it; Russians understand this fact better than any when they call to mind the storms of the WW2 and the bloody Seige of Leningrad. Russia can not afford to forget, more than 20 million Russians perished in the 'Great Patriotic War', which is more than the population of several modern countries including Romania, The Netherlands, Greece, and many more. Take a moment and imagine an entire country obliterated, that is how great the death toll was for Russia.

But those millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, other Slavs, and Soviet Citizens were not obliterated from existence. Their eternal memory and resolve gave the living strength, and with it, they endured as they always have, and they captured Berlin, ending the largest holocaust in human history.

By far one of the bloodiest battles in human history was the Siege of Leningrad (also called Petrograd and Saint Petersburg today). Casualties were around one million people...one million, for one city. The real number is possibly much higher, as many people were missing.

When the Russian President speaks the words you are about to hear, bare one thing in mind, remember it and never forget it...His brother was among the dead. President Putin's own brother died of disease as a child during the terrible siege.
      Read More...
Blue Planet

1.7-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks from North America found in Australia

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 21:54 UTC
Australia
© NASA image by Robert Simmon and Reto Stöckli
Researchers say that part of what's now Australia was part of present-day North America.
Eons ago, the land Down Under wasn't so far away after all.

Rocks recently discovered in Australia bear striking similarities to those found in North America, a study finds. The sandstone sedimentary rocks the scientists uncovered are not "native" to present-day Australia, but instead are common in eastern Canada.

The rocks were found in Georgetown, Queensland, Australia, which is roughly 250 miles west of Cairns in the northeastern part of the continent.

Scientists believe that one region of modern-day Australia was once attached to North America, but broke away 1.7 billion years ago. After drifting around for some 100 million years, the chunk eventually crashed into what's now Australia, forming the "supercontinent" Nuna.

Comment: See also: A map that fills in a 500-million year gap in Earth's history

      Read More...
Book 2

Two narratives, one reality: J.M.N. Jeffries' long-lost account of how the Zionists stole Palestine

Joseph Levine
Mondoweiss
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 22:19 UTC
chaim weizmann

Chaim Weizmann
I just finished reading Palestine The Reality: The Inside Story of the Balfour Declaration 1917-1938, by J.M.N. Jeffries, a British journalist for The Daily Mail at the time of the events discussed. Who would think that a 748-page book on the diplomatic history of the Balfour Declaration and its aftermath could be a page-turner, but this book definitely is. It's a truly remarkable achievement and a fascinating read in many ways. First a bit of back story.

The book was published originally in Great Britain in 1940. It appears it was largely ignored, with very few reviews. But then what really sent it to oblivion was the German blitz, in which the warehouse holding almost all the copies of the book was destroyed. Recently Michel Moushabeck, a Palestinian man who runs Interlink Publishing (and a neighbor of mine, a musician, and fellow activist, here in Western Massachusetts), was told about a copy of the book held by the British Museum and, after reading it there, decided it needed to be reissued. It came out in time for the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and the world of Palestine scholarship and activism owes a great debt of gratitude to Interlink Publishing for bringing this extraordinary work to light.
      Read More...
Video

Setting the record straight: 'The Post' is presenting fairy tales about the release of the Pentagon Papers

James DiEugenio
Consortium News
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 17:09 UTC
The post movie hanks

Tom Hanks in "The Post."
The new movie The Post tells the story of the Pentagon Papers from a curious perspective that ignores much of the drama of the real history.

Imagine a film about a backer of an American war in the Third World who, as a State Department official, decides to visit and observe that war firsthand. After many months he learns that most of what our leaders have been telling the public about the war was wrong. In reality, our side was not winning, and most of the claims made for the effort were false. For example, patrols reported to protect certain areas did not even exist. The written reports describing these patrols were simply made up. Therefore both American troops, and the foreign natives we were allied with, were dying by the thousands for fraudulent reasons.

When he returns from his tour abroad, the official learns about a secret Defense Department study. It exposes much of what he had observed. The study is being supervised by his old boss, who gives him access to it. He then meets with a politician who is against the war and they begin to share certain ideas about opposing it. That politician decides to run for president in order to end the war. But he is assassinated while on the verge of winning his party's nomination. As a result, a new president takes office, yet he is not that interested in ending what has now become a continuing disaster. In fact, the new president actually expands combat operations into two neighboring countries.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts