CASE 478 - The history of Portugal

Human beings have lived in Portugal since about 30,000 BC when the world was in the grip of an ice age. The first Portuguese were hunters and fishermen. They also gathered plants for food. They wore leather clothes and they made stone tools. In about 5,000 BC farming was introduced to Portugal. However the farmers continued to use stone tools. Bronze was introduced to Portugal about 2,000 BC. About 700 BC Celtic tribes entered Portugal from the north. They introduced iron to Portugal. Meanwhile by 800 BC the Phoenicians from what is now Lebanon had began trading with the Portuguese. (They wanted Portuguese tin for making bronze). By about 600 BC the Greeks were also trading with Portugal. In 210 BC the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula. They soon conquered the south but the central part was a different matter. Here a Celtic tribe called the Lusitani lived. In 193 BC, led by their ruler Viriatus, they rebelled against Roman rule. They fought the Romans for decades and they were only defeated in 139 BC when Viriatus was captured. Afterwards resistance collapsed. However the Celtic tribe gave their name to the Roman province Lusitania. In time the south of the Iberian peninsula became fully integrated into the Roman world. Wheat, olives and wine from what is now Portugal were exported to Rome. However by the middle of the 3rd century AD the Roman Empire was in decline. In the 5th century Roman rule in Portugal collapsed. In 409 Germanic peoples invaded the Iberian peninsula. A race called the Suevi invaded Portugal. However in the 6th century another race called the Visigoths ruled Spain and they attacked the Suevi. By 585 the Visigoths had conquered the Suevi. The Germanic invaders became the new upper class. They were landowners and warriors who despised trade. Under their rule trade was dominated by the Jews.



PORTUGAL IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In 711 Moors from North Africa invaded the Iberian peninsula. They quickly conquered southern Portugal and they ruled it for centuries. However they were unable to permanently subdue northern Portugal. Under Moorish rule southern Portugal was prosperous and town life flourished. Meanwhile a little Visigothic statelet slowly grew to the north. By the 11th century it was known as Portucalae or Portugal. The Counts of Portugal were vassals of the king of Leon but culturally the area was quite different from Leon. In 1095 the king of Leon granted Portugal to his daughter Dona Teresa and her husband. When her husband died Dona Teresa ruled as regent for her son. She married a Galician noble. However the Portuguese nobles were alarmed at the prospect of a union with Galicia. They rebelled and led by her son Dom Alfonso Henriques they defeated Teresa at the battle of Sao Mamede. Afterwards Alfonso Henriques became ruler of Portugal. Portugal gradually became independent of Leon. By 1140 Alfonso called himself king of Portugal and asserted his country's independence. From 1179 Papal diplomats also called him king. Meanwhile Alfonso set about reconquering territory from the Moors. In 1139 Alfonso defeated the Moors at Ourique. In 1147 he captured Lisbon and moved the border to the River Tagus. Later he captured territory south of the Tagus. Trade continued to thrive in Portugal. Jews continued to be important in the towns. The first parliament or Cortes met in 1211. At first only clergy and nobility were represented. However King Dinis (1279-1325) allowed the merchant class to send representatives - a sign of their growing importance. From the mid-13th century Lisbon became the capital of Portugal. In 1290 Portugal's first university was founded in Lisbon. (Although it soon moved to Coimbra). Also during the reign of Dinis pine forests were planted and marshland was drained for farming. Agriculture flourished. However in 1348-49, like the rest of Europe, Portugal was devastated by the Black Death which probably killed one third of the population. Then in the late 14th century Portugal was drawn into a war. When King Fernando (1367-1383) died his daughter Beatriz became queen. However she was married to Juan of Castile. Some Portuguese feared that Portugal would become united with Castile and cease to be independent. They rose in rebellion. The king of Castile invaded Portugal to support his wife. The war went on for 2 years. Finally the Castilians were routed by a Portuguese army (supported by English archers) at the battle of Aljubarrota. Dom Jaoa then became king and Portugal remained independent.

In 1386 Portugal made an alliance with England.

Then in the 15th century Portugal became a great maritime nation. In 1415 the Portuguese captured Ceuta in Morocco. Madeira was discovered in 1419. The Azores followed in 1427. At that time Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) made navigation into a fine art. he also provided ships and money to Portuguese captains. Portuguese mariners ventured further and further afield. By the time Prince Henry died the Portuguese had sailed as far as Sierra Leone. Then Tangiers was captured in 1471. Finally in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. In 1492 Columbus discovered the West Indies. Since the new lands were south of the Canaries the Portuguese king claimed they were his. However the argument with the Spanish was ended by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Portugal and Spain agreed that all new land west of a line 370 degrees west of the Cape Verde Islands would belong to Spain. Any land east of the line belonged to Portugal. Following the treaty in 1498 an expedition led by Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa and reached India.

PORTUGAL IN THE 16th CENTURY AND 17th CENTURY

Asia was the source of spices, which were very expensive in Europe. Huge profits could be made by importing spices by sea. At first the Portuguese dominated the spice trade. In 1510 the Portuguese annexed Goa in India. In 1511 they took Malacca in Indonesia. In 1514 they reached China and in 1557 they established a trading post at Macao. The Portuguese also colonized Brazil. Meanwhile in 1536 The Inquisition was formed in Portugal. The first execution in Portugal took place in 1541. The last was in 1765. King Sebastiao (1557-1576) led an expedition to Morocco. It ended in complete disaster. Thousands of Portuguese were killed including the king and most of the nobility. Sebastiao was succeeded by Henrique, who died childless. Afterwards King Philip II of Spain claimed the throne of Portugal on the grounds that he was King Sebastiao's nephew. The Spaniards won the battle of Alcantara and Philip II of Spain became Philip I of Portugal. From then until 1640 Spain and Portugal shared a monarch. However the union grew gradually less and less popular. In 1640 Portuguese nobles staged a coup in Lisbon. They deposed the governor of Portugal. The Duke of Braganza was made King Joao IV. Spain did not recognize Portuguese independence until 1668 when the treaty of Lisbon was signed. Meanwhile Portugal was declining in the 17th century. In 1600 the Portuguese dominated the spice trade with Asia. However in the 17th century they lost their position to the Dutch.

PORTUGAL IN THE 18th CENTURY

In the late 17th century gold was discovered in Brazil. In 1730 diamonds were discovered there. Taxes on both helped the Portuguese treasury. Furthermore in 1717 the Portuguese won a naval victory over the Turks at Matapan. In 1703 Portugal signed the Methuen Treaty with England. This was a trade treaty which boosted exports of wine to England. In 1750 the Marques de Pombal became the king's chief minister. In 1755 Lisbon was shattered by an earthquake. Tens of thousands of people were killed and whole areas of the city were destroyed. Pombal took the opportunity to rebuild Lisbon as a modern city. In 1758 an attempt was made to assassinate the king, Jose I. Pombal took this opportunity to execute several powerful nobles. He also expelled the Jesuits from Portugal and confiscated their property. Pombal wanted to make Portugal an enlightened despotism. He carried out a number of legal reforms. He also reformed taxation and he promoted trade. Pombal also created many state funded schools. When the king died in 1777 Pombal's enemies took the opportunity to bring him to trial for the previous regime's harsh measures. Pombal was found guilty but escaped punishment because of his age.

PORTUGAL IN THE 19th CENTURY

In 1807 a French army invaded Portugal. The court fled to Brazil. However in 1808 a rebellion against the French began in Spain and Portugal. The British sent a force under Sir John Moore to Portugal. Moore was killed at the battle of Corunna in January 1809 but the French were unable to dislodge the British from Portugal. After 3 years of fighting the French were driven out of Portugal in 1811. In 1820 there was a revolution in Portugal. At that time the king was still in Brazil. In his absence a group of army officers seized power and a 'constitutional Cortes' was formed to draw up a new constitution. However the new constitution was not popular with everyone. Conservative landowners and the clergy strongly disliked the new liberal regime. In 1821 the Cortes asked King Joao VI to return from Brazil. He did so and he agreed to accept the new constitution but the queen refused. Meanwhile their son Pedro remained in Brazil. Under his leadership Brazil broke away from Portugal and became independent. King Joao VI died in 1826. The heir to the throne, Pedro, was emperor of an independent Brazil and he had no wish to rule Portugal as well. He abdicated the throne of Portugal in favor of his 7-year-old daughter Maria da Gloria. Since she was only a child her uncle Miguel would rule as regent. Pedro also drew up a 'charter' to replace the liberal constitution. The charter still limited the powers of the monarch but it was not as liberal as the old constitution. Miguel, the regent, at first agreed to accept the charter but he soon tore it up and made himself absolute ruler. In 1828, with the support of conservative forces in Portugal, he made himself king. However a rebellion against his absolute rule began in the Azores. Then in 1831 Pedro, the emperor of Brazil, fell from power. He fled to Europe and declared himself regent of Portugal instead of his brother Miguel. The rebels were prepared to support Pedro and in July 1832 a rebel army, with many British supporters, landed in Portugal to fight for him. Fighting lasted until 1834 when Pedro took the throne and Miguel went into exile. Afterwards Portugal was divided between those who wanted a traditional strong monarchy and those who wanted a liberal constitution. Nobody was able to find an agreement that satisfied both sides. In 1838, following demands from liberals, a new constitution was introduced. However the conservatives were strongly opposed to it and in 1846-47 civil war broke out between the two sides. It was only ended when foreign powers intervened. In the late 19th century some European countries were transformed by the industrial revolution, but Portugal remained a poor, agricultural country. Illiteracy was common. The popularity of the monarchy waned and republican feeling grew. a republican revolution occurred in 1891 but it was defeated. However in 1908 King Carlos was assassinated. Finally in 1910 a republican revolution took place, led by the army and navy. King Manuel II fled to Britain.

MODERN PORTUGAL

Many poor Portuguese had high hopes for the revolution but afterwards they saw no improvement in their living standards. Soon many Portuguese became disillusioned. Finally in 1926 the army took power. In 1928 Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, a lecturer at Coimbra University, was made finance minister. In 1932 Salazar became prime minister. He drew up a new constitution, which was accepted in a referendum. Salazar became a virtual dictator. A secret police force, the PIDE (Policia Internacional e de Defensa do Estado) was formed. The press was censored and political parties were banned. Salazar spent money on public works such as roads, bridges and public buildings. Portuguese industry grew steadily and the urban population rose. However poverty remained widespread. Furthermore in the early 1960s guerrilla warfare began in Portugal's African colonies. Fighting the rebels proved a great strain on Portugal's resources. In 1968 Salazar was forced to resign through ill health. He was replaced by Marcelo Caetano. Meanwhile increasing discontent in the army led officers to form the Movimento das Forcas Armadas (MFA). On 25 April 1974 the army staged a coup. People wore red and white carnations to show their support for the revolution. So it became known as the Carnation Revolution. Democracy was restored in Portugal. In 1986 Portugal joined the EU. However in 1999 Portugal unwisely joined the Euro. In 2006 Anibal Cavaco Silva became president of Portugal. Today Portugal is known for olives, wheat, wine and cork. Tourism is also an important industry in Portugal. Like the rest of Europe Portugal suffered in the recession of 2009. However Portugal eventually recovered. Today its economy is growing again.

Today the population of Portugal is 10.8 million.

CASE 477 - Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists or Bolsheviki (Russian: большевики, большевик, "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority"), were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk, Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues, hence their name. They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks, or Reds, came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the royal family of Russia headed by Nicolas Tsar were all executed in their home and Russia was turned over almost overnight, the bolsheviks then founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). With the Reds defeating the Whites and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. The Bolsheviks, founded by Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov, were by 1905 a major organization consisting primarily of workers under a democratic internal hierarchy governed by the principle of democratic centralism, who considered themselves the leaders of the revolutionary working class of Russia. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism.

Antisemitism in the Russian Empire existed both culturally and institutionally. The Jews were restricted to live within the Pale of Settlement, and suffered pogroms. Between 1881 and 1920, more than two million Jews left Russia. As a result, many Jews supported gradual or revolutionary changes within the Russian Empire. Those movements ranged from the far left (Jewish Anarchism, Bundists, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks) to moderate left (Trudoviks) and constitutionalist (Constitutional Democrats) parties. On the eve of the February Revolution in 1917, of about 23,000 members of the Bolshevik party 364 (about 1.6%) were known to be ethnic Jews. According to the 1922 Bolshevik party census, there were 19,564 Jewish Bolsheviks, comprising 5.21% of the total, and in the 1920s of the 417 members of the Central Executive Committee, the party Central Committee, the Presidium of the Executive of the Soviets of the USSR and the Russian Republic, the People's Commissars, 6% were ethnic Jews. Between 1936 and 1940, during the Great Purge, Yezhovshchina and after the rapprochement with Nazi Germany, Stalin had largely eliminated Jews from senior party, government, diplomatic, security and military positions. Some scholars have grossly exaggerated Jewish presence in the Soviet Communist Party. For example, journalist David Aaronovitch quotes Alfred Jensen as saying that in the 1920s "75 per cent of the leading Bolsheviks" were "of Jewish origin". According to Aaronovitch, "a cursory examination of membership of the top committees shows this figure to be an absurd exaggeration"

We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths the bolsheviks were responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at least 50 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger, large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at Gulags. Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals, artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party itself. An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 20 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman in 1936 by Yezhov, the 'bloodthirsty dwarf'."

The world has begun to awaken to the horror of the atrocities perpetrated in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere under the rule of Communism. Yet few understand the depth of the evil involved, the source the ideology, and it's true goals. Though suppressed, the undeniable facts are that Communism is a jewish ideology and movement, inspired by Talmudic Judaism, and created and led by ethnic jews for the purpose of mass genocide and destruction. Communism calls for the overthrowing of all existing governments, monarchy and religion. The lofty talk of "a socialist utopia for the working class" is just the bait to trick the masses into revolution, and installing the tyrannical jewish leaders of the Communist movement into power. The ideology is merely a vehicle for the annihilation of Western Christian Civilization and the achievement of world Jewish conquest. Karl Marx was merely the protégé and minion of German jew Moses Hess, who initiated Marx into socialist doctrine as well as the Freemasonic Lodges. Hess is one of the founders of Socialism-Communism and Zionism, and was connected to the Illuminati. The Jewish Illuminati and Freemasons used Communist ideology to camouflage their goals of promotion of atheism, destruction of individual liberties, consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of the jews, and enslavement of the masses. Hess conceived of Socialism as a way to agitate the social classes against one another in order to prevent their cooperation (ie, divide and conquer). He stressed that socialists/communists have nothing to do with nationalism. However, as an adherent of Talmudic Judaism, he supported an intense nationalism for the jews (ie, Zionism).

CASE 476 - Brexit (PART 1)

CASE 469 - Brexit (PART 1)

The brexit smokescreen

The conservative government with the help of UKIP quickly and quietly pushed for a referendum to vote out of the EU that no one wanted or had much talked about, they were even against leaving the EU.

When the referendum date was set, the same people, all the government and media were really positive and persuading everyone to stay in the EU and it looked like most were against leaving. Propaganda and made up facts circulated from both sides and at one point its all anyone talked about. It divided the nation into 2, the left wing liberal, fear based people and the right wing sensationalists, a record number of people were politically engaging and in the end it left people confused, bitter and tired of it all, not wanting to debate or engage about it anymore.

They gave the people a choice between a high costing non democratic federalist bureaucracy which was forming into a totalitarian state open to corruption or a high costing 2 bob tory totalitarian state where the laws are radically going to be changed without our say, the UK will be reset and changed in favor of certain individuals and companies which is open for yet more corruption.

After the country voted to leave 52% to 48% on the 23rd June 2016, David Cameron resigned having made the referendum, promising to keep the UK in the EU and then failed to do so ???? Theresa May was then appointed a non elected Prime minister on the 13th July 2017. Then straight away without a plan or just a hidden agenda the conservative government have now coincidentally switched to really pushing for Article 50 to be triggered and for the hardest Brexit, which will not just withdraw The United Kingdom of Great Britain and N. Ireland from the European Union it will be the creation of a new nation state as the one we think we live in now was dissolved in 2007 under the Lisbon treaty.

Either way the country and everything in it had already been swindled, indebted in £billions, sold off and privatised years ago. They just wanted to divide, confuse and distract everyone more whilst the power grab continues and "brand GB" is advertised and glorified to the world. Its as if someone or a group of people had realised and studied the laws and how the economy will be once the UK is out of the EU, also Margret Thatchers EU rebate was to run out in 2020 citing huge increases in payments to the EU which would have presented at some point in 2015 or before a huge opportunity in dividing the nation in such a way, breaking the people, the laws and how everything is governed can all be replaced, changed radically and in a more streamlined profitable way.

What is Brexit

The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union following a referendum held in June 2016, in which 52% of votes were cast in favor of leaving the EU was a shock for most people. The UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union the formal procedure for withdrawing from the EU, by the end of March 2017. This, within the treaty terms would put the UK on a course to leave the EU by March 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May elected by the ruling Conservative Party in the wake of the referendum has promised a bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and to incorporate existing EU laws into UK domestic law. The terms of withdrawal will mean The UK will leave the single market but deals will include maintaining the common travel area between the UK and Irish Republic and "control" of migration between the UK and the EU. Negotiations begun in January and continued until March the 29th 2017 when notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was is served by Theresa May and the British government to Donald Tusk of the European Union, which was given the Royal assent and permission to trigger Article 50 by the Queen. It was not her intention to "undermine" the EU or the single market, Mrs May said, but she warned against a "punitive" reaction to Brexit, as it would bring "calamitous self-harm for the countries of Europe and it would not be the act of a friend", but already Donald Trump the new president of The United states has said he wants to sort a fair deal out straight away, but The UK has made it clear it will not tolerate or stand with The US on many of its policies. New Zealand, Australia, China and other nations too are looking to start trade negotiations with the UK like the old commonwealth nations used to before the EEC was formed.

The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), a predecessor of the EU, in 1973, and confirmed its membership in a 1975 referendum by 67% of the votes. Historical opinion polls 1973–2015 tended to reveal majorities in favor of remaining in the EEC, EC or EU. In the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the EEC was advocated mainly by Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn of the Labor Party with the Commonwealth of Britain bill 1991 and then again in 1995, both never got a 2nd reading in the house and then later to be followed by trade union figures. From the 1990s, withdrawal from the EU was advocated mainly by some Conservatives and by the newly founded UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Common purpose

Although it has 80,000 trainees in 36 cities, 18,000 graduate members and enormous power, Common Purpose is largely unknown to the general public. It recruits and trains "leaders" to be loyal to the directives of Common Purpose, the UN's agenda 21 initiative and the European Union, instead of to their own local council or government departments, which they then undermine or subvert, the NHS being an example. They design, set up and then implement and control all the quangos in the United Kingdom (a semi-public administrative body outside the civil service but receiving financial support from the government, which makes senior appointments to it). Common Purpose is identifying leaders in all levels of our government to assume power when our nation is replaced by the European Union, in what they call “the post democratic society.” They are learning to rule without regard to democracy, and will bring the EU police state home to every one of us. Common Purpose is also the glue that enables fraud to be committed across these government departments to reward pro European local politicians. Corrupt deals are enabled that put property or cash into their pockets by embezzling public assets. It has members in the NHS, BBC, the police, the legal profession, the church, many of Britain’s 7,000 quangos, local councils, the Civil Service, government ministries, Parliament, and it controls many RDA's (Regional Development Agencies). Cressida Dick is the Common Purpose senior police officer who authorised the "Shoot to kill" policy without reference to Parliament, the law or the British Constitution. Jean de Menezes was one of the innocents who died as a result. Her shoot to kill policy still stands today.

Common Purpose trained Janet Paraskeva, the Law Society's Chief Executive Officer. Surprising numbers of lawyers are CP members. It is no coincidence that justice is more expensive, more flawed and more corrupt. And no surprise the courts refused to uphold the law, when a challenge was made to the signing of the six EU treaties, which illegally abolish Britain's sovereignty.

Not only have the remain side had a 40 year head start, all levels of government, councils, civil servants and politicians have had Pro-EU members controlling the seats by means of stealth by common purpuse, but they had the mainstream media on their side, a larger budget and many legal challenges, not to mention the vote result was tampered with and the leave side still won.

The final vote tally grossly misrepresented … as in fixed

According to many MSM reports prior to the referendum, as well as the overwhelming trending taking place in favor of BREXIT, there is no question that the ‘official’ vote count was altered. This fixing of the vote tally was carried out in the interest of showing a much closer outcome. There is ONLY one reason why the NWO neoconservative cabal would engineer such a result: to present the false appearance that the sentiments were almost even across the entire United Kingdom and a huge divide has occurred. Propaganda, made up stories and figures from both sides, nationalists and racist people all came out to not only cast their votes but extreme views, sometimes with violence and hate all across the country and on the other side the liberal, mainstream media follower sheep were casting out hatred and propaganda to counter-act the situation, it was a perfect divide and conquer tactic. Of course, the region-by-region breakdown indicates a completely different result. That Scotland and Northern Ireland and London were the primary bastions for BREMAIN. And that the vast majority of the British people — exclusive of the City of London and its millions of immigrants — wanted out of the EU.

The referendum is non-binding

This is where things can get very sticky. The BREXIT referendum win is in fact a legally non-binding exercise. The outcome, however, does represent the very strong will of the people. Nevertheless, Parliament can scuttle the BREXIT ship in a London heartbeat. If they thought they could get away with it, they surely would.

Brexit Referendum is ‘non-binding’ meaning UK Parliament, not voters, will prevail

The crucial point is that Parliament has the power to avoid the issue altogether, as well as the authority to legally vote against BREXIT, effectively vacating the referendum results. Any attempt to overturn the BREXIT outcome is an outright assault on democracy as Great Britain has practiced it, and imposed it on other nations. Let’s face it, if the BREMAIN side had won, there would be no talk at all about a re-vote.

Divide and Conquer

It does appear from the various and sundry endeavors reported in the British media, that the BREMAIN side is working feverishly to overturn the BREXIT result, funding and charity events have taken place to pay for a legal case which has gone to the high court for parliement to have to discuss and then vote on the matter. It also appears that the NWO globalists, corporations and the federalists of Europe are behind each of these initiatives which have popped up out of nowhere. Each day brings a louder chorus of voices looking to reverse the BREXIT victory, but unfortunately The British government debated the Article 50 bill and then voted 384 to 114 and then again on Feb 8th 2017, MPs have overwhelmingly agreed to let the government begin the UK's departure from the EU as they voted for the Brexit bill. The draft legislation was approved by 494 votes to 122, and now moves to the House of Lords to allow the prime minister to trigger the article 50 and permission by the Queen to enact this legislation allowing the UK to leave 3 of the 15 parts of the EU that the UK was part of.

This type of manufactured reaction is undoubtedly the handiwork of the financial elites in the City of London. It’s what they do best, divide and rule

Final results - Leave 52% - Remain 48% - Apparently but its got to be more around 65% to 35%

Key events and possible timings

29 March, 2017 - UK triggers Article 50

29 April - EU summit of the 27 leaders (without the UK) to agree to give the European Commission a mandate to negotiate with the UK

May - European Commission to publish negotiating guidelines based on the mandate the EU leaders give it. The EU might say something about possible parallel negotiation on a future EU-UK trade deal

May/June 2017 - Negotiations begin

23 April and 7 May - French presidential elections

24 September - German parliamentary elections

Autumn 2017 - The UK government is expected to introduce legislation to leave the EU and put all existing EU laws into British law - the Great Repeal Bill

October 2018 - Aim to complete negotiations

Between October 2018 and March 2019 - The Houses of Parliament, European Council and European Parliament vote on any deal

March 2019 - UK formally withdraws from the European Union (The Article 50 negotiations could be extended, but this is subject to the approval of the other 27 EU member states)

Post Brexit

The vote to leave the European Union in June 2016 leaves the UK on the front line of some of the biggest political issues of our time, David Cameron opened pandoras box which is already having significant political and institutional implications for the external affairs of the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which could possibly lead to the Break up of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and a unified Ireland. Many ideas, unions and future fear scare stories have emerged through the internet and memes, but there is a deep subconscious wave of people wanting to rule, sustain and preserve their own nations, languages, cultures and economies and not have a centralized system where non elected foreign bureaucratic people are deciding all aspects of peoples lives for them. Then on the flip side leaving the EU will give the conservative government and anyone profiting around this global network the chance to reforge, breakdown and destroy the old Great Britain, then create a new state totally changing its laws, policies and the way we live into a controlled totalitarian state. It has also brought new challenges a new spectrum on how the EU and the countries within it work, trade and cooperate. France's possible next prime minister Marie Le Penn the Front national leader has stated she will withdraw France from the "system of oppression" if she is elected (Frexit), The Greeks, The Dutch, Hungarians, Austrians and even talk of the Italians wanting to leave.

Possible outcomes post brexit

The republic nations map

The preserved United kingdom seperate from the European union map

The Ireland/Scotland Union - England-Wales union map

CASE 475 - The stock market

The stock market refers to the collection of markets and exchanges where the issuing and trading of equities (stocks of publicly held companies), bonds and other sorts of securities takes place, either through formal exchanges or over-the-counter markets. Also known as the equity market, the stock market is one of the most vital components of a free-market economy, as it provides companies with access to capital in exchange for giving investors a slice of ownership.

Early history

In 12th-century France, the courretiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. Because these men also traded with debts, they could be called the first brokers. A common misbelief[citation needed] is that, in late 13th-century Bruges, commodity traders gathered inside the house of a man called Van der Beurze, and in 1409 they became the "Brugse Beurse", institutionalizing what had been, until then, an informal meeting, but actually, the family Van der Beurze had a building in Antwerp where those gatherings occurred; the Van der Beurze had Antwerp, as most of the merchants of that period, as their primary place for trading. The idea quickly spread around Flanders and neighboring countries and "Beurzen" soon opened in Ghent and Rotterdam.

In the middle of the 13th century, Venetian bankers began to trade in government securities. In 1351 the Venetian government outlawed spreading rumors intended to lower the price of government funds. Bankers in Pisa, Verona, Genoa and Florence also began trading in government securities during the 14th century. This was only possible because these were independent city-states not ruled by a duke but a council of influential citizens. Italian companies were also the first to issue shares. Companies in England and the Low Countries followed in the 16th century.

Birth of formal stock markets

See also: Economic history of the Dutch Republic, Financial history of the Dutch Republic, and Dutch East India Company One of the oldest known stock certificates, issued by the VOC chamber of Enkhuizen, dated 9 Sep 1606. A 17th-century engraving depicting the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Amsterdam's old bourse, a.k.a. Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch), built by Hendrick de Keyser (c. 1612). The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was the world's first official (formal) stock exchange when it began trading the VOC's freely transferable securities, including bonds and shares of stock[26]. Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser) by Emanuel de Witte, 1653. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is said to have been the first stock exchange to introduce continuous trade in the early 17th century. The process of buying and selling the VOC's shares, on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, became the basis of the world's first official (formal) stock market. Established in 1875, the Bombay Stock Exchange is Asia's first stock exchange.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch pioneering several financial innovations that helped lay the foundations of modern financial system. While the Italian city-states produced the first transferable government bonds, they did not develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market: corporate shareholders. In the early 1600s the Dutch East India Company (VOC) became the first company in history to issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public.[34] As Edward Stringham (2015) notes, "companies with transferable shares date back to classical Rome, but these were usually not enduring endeavors and no considerable secondary market existed (Neal, 1997, p. 61)." The Dutch East India Company (founded in the year of 1602) was also the first joint-stock company to get a fixed capital stock and as a result, continuous trade in company stock occurred on the Amsterdam Exchange. Soon thereafter, a lively trade in various derivatives, among which options and repos, emerged on the Amsterdam market. Dutch traders also pioneered short selling – a practice which was banned by the Dutch authorities as early as 1610. There are now stock markets in virtually every developed and most developing economies, with the world's largest markets being in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, India, China, Canada, Germany (Frankfurt Stock Exchange), France, South Korea and the Netherlands.



How Does the Stock Market Work?

The stock market can be split into two main sections: the primary market and the secondary market. The primary market is where new issues are first sold through initial public offerings (IPOs). Institutional investors typically purchase most of these shares from investment banks; the worth of the company "going public" and the amount of shares being issued determine the opening stock price of the IPO. All subsequent trading goes on in the secondary market, where participants include both institutional and individual investors. (A company uses money raised from its IPO to grow, but once its stock starts trading, it does not receive funds from the buying and selling of its shares). Stocks of larger companies are usually traded through exchanges, entities that bring together buyers and sellers in an organized manner where stocks are listed and traded (although today, most stock market trades are executed electronically, and even the stocks themselves are almost always held in electronic form, not as physical certificates). Such exchanges exist in major cities all over the world, including London and Tokyo. In terms of market capitalization, the two biggest stock exchanges in the United States are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), founded in 1792 and located on Wall Street (which colloquially is often used as synonym for the NYSE), and the Nasdaq, founded in 1971. The Nasdaq originally featured over-the-counter (OTC) securities, but today it lists all types of stocks. Stocks can be listed on either exchange if they meet the listing criteria, but in general technology firms tend to be listed on the Nasdaq. The NYSE is still the largest and, arguably, most powerful stock exchange in the world. The Nasdaq has more companies listed, but the NYSE has a market capitalization that is larger than Tokyo, London and the Nasdaq combined. Who Regulates the Stock Market?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the regulatory body charged with overseeing the U.S. stock markets. A federal agency that is independent of the political party in power, the SEC states its "mission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation." (Learn more about it in Policing The Securities Market: An Overview Of The SEC.)

Stock Trading

Two general types of securities are most frequently traded on stock markets: over-the-counter (OTC) and listed securities. Listed securities are those stocks traded on exchanges. These securities need to meet the reporting regulations of the SEC as well as the requirements of the exchanges on which they are listed. Over-the-counter securities are traded directly between parties, usually via a dealer network, and are not listed on any exchange, although these securities may be listed on pink sheets. Pink sheet securities often do not meet the requirements for being listed on an exchange and tend to have low float, such as closely held companies or thinly-traded stocks. Companies in bankruptcy are typically listed here, as are penny stocks, loosely defined as those that trade below $5 a share. OTC securities do not need to comply with SEC reporting requirements, so finding credible information on them can be difficult. The lack of information makes investing in pink sheet securities similar to investing in private companies. The number of stocks that exchanges handle daily is called volume. Market makers are required to buy and sell stocks that don’t interest other investors. Read reviews of stock brokers.

Who Works on the Stock Market?

There are many different players associated with the stock market, including stockbrokers, traders, stock analysts, portfolio managers and investment bankers. Each has a unique role, but many of the roles are intertwined and depend on each other to make the market run effectively. Stockbrokers, also known as registered representatives in the U.S., are the licensed professionals who buy and sell securities on behalf of investors. The brokers act as intermediaries between the stock exchanges and the investors by buying and selling stocks on the investors' behalf. Stock analysts perform research and rate the securities as buy, sell or hold. This research gets disseminated to clients and interested parties to decide whether to buy or sell the stock. Portfolio managers are professionals who invest portfolios, collections of securities, for clients. These managers get recommendations from analysts and make buy/sell decisions for the portfolio. Mutual fund companies, hedge funds and pension plans use portfolio managers to make decisions and set the investment strategies for the money they hold. Investment bankers represent companies in various capacities such as private companies that want to go public via an IPO or companies that are involved with pending mergers and acquisitions.

The Performance Indicators

If you want to know how the stock market is performing, you can consult an index of stocks for the whole market or for a segment of the market. Indexes are used to measure changes in the overall stock market. There are many different indexes, each made up of a different pool of stocks (though there may be overlap among them). In the U.S., examples of indexes include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite Index, Russell 2000, and Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is perhaps the best-known. The Dow is comprised of the 30 largest companies in the U.S., and the daily Dow shows how their stocks perform on a given day. The Dow average is a price–weighted average, meaning its number is based on the price of the stocks. The S&P 500 is comprised of the 500 largest capitalization stocks traded in the U.S. These two indexes are the most followed measurements of the U.S. stock market, and as such, the most generally accepted representatives of the American overall economy. However, there are many other indexes that represent mid- and small-sized U.S. companies, such as the Russell 2000. (For more on indexes and their function, check out The History Of Stock Market Indexes.)

Why is the Stock Market Important?

The stock market allows companies to raise money by offering stock shares and corporate bonds. It lets investors participate in the financial achievements of the companies, making money through the dividends (essentially, cuts of the company's profits) the shares pay out and by selling appreciated stocks at a profit, or capital gain. (Of course, the downside is that investors can lose money if the share price falls or depreciates, and the investor has to sell the stocks at a loss.) In the U.S., the indexes that measure the value of stocks are widely followed and are a critical data source used to gage the current state of the American economy. As a financial barometer, the stock market has become an integral and influential part of decision-making for everyone from the average family to the wealthiest executive.

CASE 474 - The history of music - part 6 / The 1970's

In North America, Europe, and Oceania, the decade saw the rise of disco, which became one of the biggest genres of the decade, especially in the mid-to-late 1970s. In Europe, a variant known as Euro disco rose in popularity towards the end of the 1970s. Aside from disco, funk, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, and soul remained popular throughout the decade. It is this influx of popular music that soon transformed into rock and roll during the Early 1970s. Rock music played an important part in the Western musical scene, with punk rock thriving throughout the mid to late 1970s. Other subgenres of rock, particularly glam rock, hard rock, progressive, art rock and heavy metal achieved various amounts of success. Other genres such as reggae were innovative throughout the decade and grew a significant following. Hip hop emerged during this decade, but was slow to start and did not become significant until the late 1980s. Classical began losing a little momentum; however, through invention and theoretical development, this particular genre gave rise to experimental classical and minimalist music by classical composers. A subgenre of classical, film scores, remained popular with movie-goers. Alongside the popularity of experimental music, the decade was notable for its contributions to electronic music, which rose in popularity with the continued development of synthesizers and harmonizers; more composers embraced this particular genre, gaining the notice of listeners who were looking for something new and different. Its rising popularity, mixed with the popular music of the period, led to the creation of synthpop. Pop also had a popularity role in the 1970s. In Asia, music continued to follow varying trends. In Japan, the decade saw several musical phases, including the highly popular folk-influenced fōku, as well as greater experimentation with electronic music, ranging from developments in synthpop, electro, and Electronic Dance Music, created through different Japanese artists and bands such as Yellow Magic Orchestra. In Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, the Nueva canción movement peaked in popularity and was adopted as the music of the hippie, Liberation Theology, and New Left movements. Cumbia music began its internationalization as regional scenes rose outside Colombia. merengue experienced mainstream exposure across Latin America and the southern US border states. In Africa, especially Nigeria, the genre known as Afrobeat gained a following throughout the 1970s.



Disco, Punk, Hip hop, country and pop became the main music outlets and cultures/sub cultures that arose from the 1960's, but The 1970s saw the emergence of hard rock as one of the most prominent subgenres of rock music with acts such as Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Nazareth, Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult were highly popular during the first half of the decade. By the second half of the decade, many other acts had also achieved stardom, namely, AC/DC, Kiss, Aerosmith, Van Halen and Ted Nugent. Arena rock grew in popularity through rock acts such as Styx and The Who. Psychedelic rock declined in popularity after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison of The Doors, the self-imposed seclusion of Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, and the break-up of The Beatles in 1970. This went off into many genres such as soft rock, punk rock, country rock, glam rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_the_1970s

http://www.nme.com/list/100-best-songs-of-the-1970s-1153

CASE 473 - The history of Mali

The borders of Mali are those of French Sudan, drawn in 1891. They are artificial, and unite part of the larger Sudan region with parts of the Sahara. As a consequence, Mali is a multiethnic country, with a majority of its population consisting of Mandé peoples. Mali's history is dominated by its role in trans-Saharan trade, connecting West Africa and the Maghreb. The Malian city Timbuktu is exemplary of this - situated on the southern fringe of the Sahara and close to the River Niger it has played an important role in the trans-Saharan trade from the 13th century, with the establishment of the Mali Empire. The Mali Empire became Islamic in the early 14th century, under Musa I of Mali. From that time until the 19th century, Timbuktu remained important as an outpost at the southwestern fringe of the Muslim world and a hub of the Arab slave trade.

Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became known for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River. It extended over a large area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces.

The Mali Empire began to weaken in the 15th century, but it remained dominant for much of the 15th. It survived into the 16th century, but by then had lost much of its former strength and importance.

The Mali Empire began to weaken by the mid 14th century. The Songhai took advantage of this and asserted their independence. The Songhai made Gao their capital and began an imperial expansion of their own throughout the western Sahel. And by 1420, Songhai was strong enough to exact tribute from Masina. The emerging Songhai Empire and the declining Mali Empire co-existed during much of the later 14th and throughout the 15th century. In the later 15th century, control of Timbuktu shifted to the Songhai Empire. They were also technologically advanced

After the empires (1591–1892)

The Songhay empire eventually collapsed under the pressure from the Moroccan Saadi dynasty. The turning-point was the Battle of Tondibi of 13 March 1591). Morocco subsequently controlled Gao, Timbuktu, Djenné (also seen as Jenne), and related trade routes with much difficulty until around the end of the 17th century. After the collapse of the Songhai Empire, no single state controlled the region. The Moroccans only succeeded in occupying a few portions of the country, and even in those locations where they did attempt to rule, their hold was weak and challenged by rivals. Several small successor kingdoms arose. the most notable in what is now Mali were:

Bambara Empire or Kingdom of Segou Places which were under the control of the Bambara Empire

The Bambara Empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 to 1861, was based at Ségou and also Timbuktu (also seen as Segu), and ruled parts of central and southern Mali. It existed until El Hadj Umar Tall, a Toucouleur conqueror swept across West Africa from Futa Tooro. Umar Tall's mujahideen readily defeated the Bambara, seizing Ségou itself on March 10, 1861 and declaring an end to the empire.

Kingdom of Kaarta

A split in the Coulibaly dynasty in Ségou led to the establishment of a second Bambara state, the kingdom of Kaarta, in what is now western Mali, in 1753. It was defeated in 1854 by Umar Tall, leader of Toucouleur Empire, before his war with Ségou. Kenedougou Kingdom

The Senufo Kenedugu Kingdom originated in the 17th century in the area around what is now the border of Mali and Burkina Faso. In 1876 the capital was moved to Sikasso. It resisted the effort of Samori Ture, leader of Wassoulou Empire, in 1887, to conquer it, and was one of the last kingdoms in the area to fall to the French in 1898. Maasina

An Islamic-inspired uprising in the largely Fula Inner Niger Delta region against rule by Ségou in 1818 led to establishment of a separate state. It later allied with Bambara Empire against Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire and was also defeated by it in 1862. Toucouleur Empire

This empire, founded by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur peoples, beginning in 1864, ruled eventually most of what is now Mali until the French conquest of the region in 1890. This was in some ways a turbulent period, with ongoing resistance in Massina and increasing pressure from the French. Wassoulou Empire

The Wassoulou or Wassulu Empire was a short-lived (1878–1898) empire, led by Samori Ture in the predominantly Malinké area of what is now upper Guinea and southwestern Mali (Wassoulou). It later moved to Ivory Coast before being conquered by the French. French Sudan (1892–1960)

Mali fell under French colonial rule in 1892.[1] In 1893, the French appointed a civilian governor of the territory they called Soudan Français (French Sudan), but active resistance to French rule continued. By 1905, most of the area was under firm French control.

French Sudan was administered as part of the Federation of French West Africa and supplied labor to France’s colonies on the coast of West Africa. In 1958 the renamed Sudanese Republic obtained complete internal autonomy and joined the French Community. In early 1959, the Sudanese Republic and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali. On 31 March 1960 France agreed to the Federation of Mali becoming fully independent.[2] On 20 June 1960 the Federation of Mali became an independent country and Modibo Keïta became its first President.

Independence (1960-present)

Following the withdrawal of Senegal from the federation in August 1960, the former Sudanese Republic became the Republic of Mali on 22 September 1960, with Modibo Keïta as president. President Modibo Keïta, whose Sudanese Union-African Democratic Rally (US/RDA) party had dominated pre-independence politics (as a member of the African Democratic Rally), moved quickly to declare a single-party state and to pursue a socialist policy based on extensive nationalization. Keïta withdrew from the French Community and also had close ties to the Eastern bloc. A continuously deteriorating economy led to a decision to rejoin the Franc Zone in 1967 and modify some of the economic excesses.

One-party rule

On November 19, 1968, a group of young officers staged a bloodless coup and set up a 14-member Military Committee for National Liberation (CMLN), with Lt. Moussa Traoré as president. The military leaders attempted to pursue economic reforms, but for several years faced debilitating internal political struggles and the disastrous Sahelian drought. A new constitution, approved in 1974, created a one-party state and was designed to move Mali toward civilian rule. However, the military leaders remained in power. In September 1976, a new political party was established, the Democratic Union of the Malian People (UDPM), based on the concept of democratic centralism. Single-party presidential and legislative elections were held in June 1979, and Gen. Moussa Traoré received 99% of the votes. His efforts at consolidating the single-party government were challenged in 1980 by student-led anti-government demonstrations that led to three coup attempts, which were brutally quashed.

The political situation stabilized during 1981 and 1982, and remained generally calm throughout the 1980s. In late December 1985, however, a border dispute between Mali and Burkina Faso over the mineral rich Agacher strip erupted into a brief war. The UDPM spread its structure to Cercles and Arrondissements across the land.

Shifting its attention to Mali's economic difficulties, the government approved plans for some reforms of the state enterprise system, and attempted to control public corruption. It implemented cereal marketing liberalization, created new incentives to private enterprise, and worked out a new structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But the populace became increasingly dissatisfied with the austerity measures imposed by the IMF plan as well as their perception that the ruling elite was not subject to the same strictures. In response to the growing demands for multiparty democracy then sweeping the continent, the Traoré regime did allow some limited political liberalization. In National Assembly elections in June 1988, multiple UDPM candidates were permitted to contest each seat, and the regime organized nationwide conferences to consider how to implement democracy within the one-party framework. Nevertheless, the regime refused to usher in a full-fledged democratic system. However, by 1990, cohesive opposition movements began to emerge, including the National Democratic Initiative Committee and the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali, ADEMA). The increasingly turbulent political situation was complicated by the rise of ethnic violence in the north in mid-1990. The return to Mali of large numbers of Tuareg who had migrated to Algeria and Libya during the prolonged drought increased tensions in the region between the nomadic Tuareg and the sedentary population. Ostensibly fearing a Tuareg secessionist movement in the north, the Traoré regime imposed a state of emergency and harshly repressed Tuareg unrest. Despite the signing of a peace accord in January 1991, unrest and periodic armed clashes continued. Transition to multiparty democracy. As in other African countries, demands for multi-party democracy increased. The Traoré government allowed some opening of the system, including the establishment of an independent press and independent political associations, but insisted that Mali was not ready for democracy. In early 1991, student-led anti-government rioting broke out again, but this time it was supported also by government workers and others. On March 26, 1991, after 4 days of intense anti-government rioting, a group of 17 military officers, led by Amadou Toumani Touré, arrested President Traoré and suspended the constitution. Within days, these officers joined with the Coordinating Committee of Democratic Associations to form a predominantly civilian, 25-member ruling body, the Transitional Committee for the Salvation of the People (CTSP). The CTSP then appointed a civilian-led government. A national conference held in August 1991 produced a draft constitution (approved in a referendum January 12, 1992), a charter for political parties, and an electoral code. Political parties were allowed to form freely. Between January and April 1992, a president, National Assembly, and municipal councils were elected. On June 8, 1992, Alpha Oumar Konaré, the candidate of ADEMA, was inaugurated as the president of Mali's Third Republic.

In 1997, attempts to renew national institutions through democratic elections ran into administrative difficulties, resulting in a court-ordered annulment of the legislative elections held in April 1997. The exercise, nonetheless, demonstrated the overwhelming strength of President Konaré's ADEMA party, causing some other historic parties to boycott subsequent elections. President Konaré won the presidential election against scant opposition on May 11. In the two-round legislative elections conducted on July 21 and August 3, ADEMA secured over 80% of the National Assembly seats. 2000s

Konaré stepped down after his constitutionally mandated limit of two terms and did not run in the 2002 elections. Touré then reemerged, this time as a civilian. Running as an independent on a platform of national unity, Touré won the presidency in a runoff against the candidate of Adema, which had been divided by infighting and suffered from the creation of a spin-off party, the Rally for Mali. Touré had retained great popularity because of his role in the transitional government in 1991–92. The 2002 election was a milestone, marking Mali's first successful transition from one democratically elected president to another, despite the persistence of electoral irregularities and low voter turnout. In the 2002 legislative elections, no party gained a majority; Touré then appointed a politically inclusive government and pledged to tackle Mali’s pressing social and economic development problems. 2010s

In January 2012 an insurgency has begun, led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). On 22 March 2012, it was reported that rebel troops from the military appeared on state TV announcing they had seized control of the country. Unrest over the president's handling of the conflict with the rebels was a motivating force. The former President was forced into hiding. However, due to the 2012 insurgency in northern Mali, the military government controls only the southern third of the country, leaving the north of the country (known as Azawad) to MNLA rebels. The rebels control Timbuktu, 700 km from the capital. In response, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) froze assets and imposed an embargo, leaving some with only days of fuel. Mali is dependent on fuel imports trucked overland from Senegal and Ivory Coast. As of July 17, 2012, the Tuareg rebels have since been pushed out by their allies, the Islamists, Ansar Dine, and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (A.Q.I.M.). An extremist ministate in northern Mali is the unexpected result from the collapse of the earlier coup d'etat by the angry army officers. Refuges in the 92,000-person refugee camp at Mbera, Mauritania, describe the Islamists as "intent on imposing an Islam of lash and gun on Malian Muslims." The Islamists in Timbuktu have destroyed about a half-dozen venerable above-ground tombs of revered holy men, proclaiming the tombs contrary to Shariah. One refugee in the camp spoke of encountering Afghans, Pakistanis and Nigerians. Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union's peace and security commissioner, said the African Union has discussed sending a military force to reunify Mali and that negotiations with terrorists had been ruled out but negotiations with other armed factions is still open. On 10 December 2012 Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra was arrested by soldiers and taken to a military base in Kati. Hours later, the Prime Minister announced his resignation and the resignation of his government on national television.

On 10 January 2013, Islamist forces captured the strategic town of Konna, located 600 km from the capital, from the Malian army. The following day, the French military launched Opération Serval, intervening in the conflict. By 8 February, the Islamist-held territory had been re-taken by the Malian military, with help from the international coalition. Tuareg separatists have continued to fight the Islamists as well, although the MNLA has also been accused of carrying out attacks against the Malian military.

A peace deal between the government and Tuareg rebels was signed on 18 June 2013.

Presidential elections were held in Mali on 28 July 2013, with a second round run-off held on 11 August. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta defeated Soumaïla Cissé in the run-off to become the new President of Mali.

The peace treaty between the Tuareg rebels and Malian Government was broken in late November 2013 because of fighting in the northern city of Kidal.

CASE 472 - Time traveling

Time travel — moving between different points in time — has been a popular topic for science fiction for decades. Franchises ranging from "Doctor Who" to "Star Trek" to "Back to the Future" have seen humans get in a vehicle of some sort and arrive in the past or future, ready to take on new adventures. The reality, however, is more muddled. Not all scientists believe that time travel is possible. Some even say that an attempt would be fatal to any human who chooses to undertake it.

Understanding time

What is time? While most people think of time as a constant, physicist Albert Einstein showed that time is an illusion; it is relative — it can vary for different observers depending on your speed through space. To Einstein, time is the "fourth dimension." Space is described as a three-dimensional arena, which provides a traveler with coordinates — such as length, width and height —showing location. Time provides another coordinate — direction — although conventionally, it only moves forward. (Conversely, a new theory asserts that time is "real."). Einstein's theory of special relativity says that time slows down or speeds up depending on how fast you move relative to something else. Approaching the speed of light, a person inside a spaceship would age much slower than his twin at home. Also, under Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity can bend time. Picture a four-dimensional fabric called space-time. When anything that has mass sits on that piece of fabric, it causes a dimple or a bending of space-time. The bending of space-time causes objects to move on a curved path and that curvature of space is what we know as gravity. Both the general and special relativity theories have been proven with GPS satellite technology that has very accurate timepieces on board. The effects of gravity, as well as the satellites' increased speed above the Earth relative to observers on the ground, make the unadjusted clocks gain 38 microseconds a day. (Engineers make calibrations to account for the difference.) In a sense, this effect, called time dilation, means astronauts are time travelers, as they return to Earth very, very slightly younger than their identical twins that remain on the planet.

Through the wormhole.

General relativity also provides scenarios that could allow travelers to go back in time, according to NASA. The equations, however, might be difficult to physically achieve.

One possibility could be to go faster than light, which travels at 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second) in a vacuum. Einstein's equations, though, show that an object at the speed of light would have both infinite mass and a length of 0. This appears to be physically impossible, although some scientists have extended his equations and said it might be done. A linked possibility, NASA stated, would be to create "wormholes" between points in space-time. While Einstein's equations provide for them, they would collapse very quickly and would only be suitable for very small particles. Also, scientists haven't actually observed these wormholes yet. Also, the technology needed to create a wormhole is far beyond anything we have today.

Alternate time travel theories

While Einstein's theories appear to make time travel difficult, some groups have proposed alternate solutions to jump back and forth in time.

Infinite cylinder

Astronomer Frank Tipler proposed a mechanism (sometimes known as a Tipler Cylinder) where one would take matter that is 10 times the sun's mass, then roll it into very long but very dense cylinder. After spinning this up a few billion revolutions per minute, a spaceship nearby — following a very precise spiral around this cylinder — could get itself on a "closed, time-like curve", according to the Anderson Institute. There are limitations with this method, however, including the fact that the cylinder needs to be infinitely long for this to work.

Black holes

Another possibility would be to move a ship rapidly around a black hole, or to artificially create that condition with a huge, rotating structure. "Around and around they'd go, experiencing just half the time of everyone far away from the black hole. The ship and its crew would be traveling through time," physicist Stephen Hawking wrote in the Daily Mail in 2010. "Imagine they circled the black hole for five of their years. Ten years would pass elsewhere. When they got home, everyone on Earth would have aged five years more than they had." However, he added, the crew would need to travel around the speed of light for this to work. Physicist Amos Iron at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel pointed out another limitation if one used a machine: it might fall apart before being able to rotate that quickly.

Cosmic strings

Another theory for potential time travelers involves something called cosmic strings — narrow tubes of energy stretched across the entire length of the ever-expanding universe. These thin regions, left over from the early cosmos, are predicted to contain huge amounts of mass and therefore could warp the space-time around them. Cosmic strings are either infinite or they’re in loops, with no ends, scientists say. The approach of two such strings parallel to each other would bend space-time so vigorously and in such a particular configuration that might make time travel possible, in theory.

Time machines

It is generally understood that traveling forward or back in time would require a device — a time machine — to take you there. Time machine research often involves bending space-time so far that time lines turn back on themselves to form a loop, technically known as a "closed time-like curve." To accomplish this, time machines often are thought to need an exotic form of matter with so-called "negative energy density." Such exotic matter has bizarre properties, including moving in the opposite direction of normal matter when pushed. Such matter could theoretically exist, but if it did, it might be present only in quantities too small for the construction of a time machine. However, time-travel research suggests time machines are possible without exotic matter. The work begins with a doughnut-shaped hole enveloped within a sphere of normal matter. Inside this doughnut-shaped vacuum, space-time could get bent upon itself using focused gravitational fields to form a closed time-like curve. To go back in time, a traveler would race around inside the doughnut, going further back into the past with each lap. This theory has a number of obstacles, however. The gravitational fields required to make such a closed time-like curve would have to be very strong, and manipulating them would have to be very precise.

CASE 471 - Types of countries, unions, states, republics and monarchies

Absolute monarchy - a form of government where the monarch rules unhindered, i.e., without any laws, constitution or legally organized opposition.

Anarchy - a condition of lawlessness or political disorder brought about by the absence of governmental authority or when people rule themselves.

Authoritarian - a form of government in which state authority is imposed onto many aspects of citizens' lives.

Commonwealth - a nation, state or other political entity founded on law and united by a compact of the people for the common good.

Communist - a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single -- often authoritarian -- party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society).

Confederacy (Confederation) - a union by compact or treaty between states, provinces or territories that creates a central government with limited powers; the constituent entities retain supreme authority over all matters except those delegated to the central government.

Constitutional - a government by or operating under an authoritative document (constitution) that sets forth the system of fundamental laws and principles that determines the nature, functions and limits of that government.

Constitutional democracy - a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution.

Constitutional monarchy - a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom.

Democracy - a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but which is usually exercised indirectly through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed.

Democratic republic - a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.

Dictatorship - a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power (not restricted by a constitution or laws).

Ecclesiastical - a government administrated by a church.

Emirate - similar to a monarchy or sultanate, a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of an emir (the ruler of a Muslim state); the emir may be an absolute overlord or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.

Federal (Federation) - a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided -- usually by means of a constitution -- between a central authority and a number of constituent regions (states, colonies or provinces) so that each region retains some management of its internal affairs; differs from a confederacy in that the central government exerts influence directly upon both individuals as well as upon the regional units.

Federal republic - a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives.

Islamic republic - a particular form of government adopted by some Muslim states; although such a state is, in theory, a theocracy, it remains a republic, but its laws are required to be compatible with the laws of Islam.

Maoism - the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism developed in China by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), which states that a continuous revolution is necessary if the leaders of a communist state are to keep in touch with the people.

Marxism - the political, economic and social principles espoused by 19th century economist Karl Marx; he viewed the struggle of workers as a progression of historical forces that would proceed from a class struggle of the proletariat (workers) exploited by capitalists (business owners), to a socialist "dictatorship of the proletariat," to, finally, a classless society -- Communism.

Marxism-Leninism - an expanded form of communism developed by Vladimir Lenin from doctrines of Karl Marx; Lenin saw imperialism as the final stage of capitalism and shifted the focus of workers' struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries.

Monarchy - a government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a monarch who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right; the monarch may be either a sole absolute ruler or a sovereign - such as a king, queen or prince - with constitutionally limited authority.

Oligarchy - a government in which control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority generally is based on wealth or power.

Parliamentary democracy - a political system in which the legislature (parliament) selects the government - a prime minister, premier or chancellor along with the cabinet ministers - according to party strength as expressed in elections; by this system, the government acquires a dual responsibility: to the people as well as to the parliament.

Parliamentary government (Cabinet-Parliamentary government) - a government in which members of an executive branch (the cabinet and its leader - a prime minister, premier or chancellor) are nominated to their positions by a legislature or parliament, and are directly responsible to it; this type of government can be dissolved at will by the parliament (legislature) by means of a no-confidence vote or the leader of the cabinet may dissolve the parliament if it can no longer function.

Parliamentary monarchy - a state headed by a monarch who is not actively involved in policy formation or implementation (i.e., the exercise of sovereign powers by a monarch in a ceremonial capacity); true governmental leadership is carried out by a cabinet and its head - a prime minister, premier or chancellor - who are drawn from a legislature (parliament).

Presidential - a system of government where the executive branch exists separately from a legislature (to which it is generally not accountable).

Republic - a representative democracy in which the people's elected deputies (representatives), not the people themselves, vote on legislation.

Socialism - a government in which the means of planning, producing and distributing goods is controlled by a central government that theoretically seeks a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor; in actuality, most socialist governments have ended up being no more than dictatorships over workers by a ruling elite.

Sultanate - similar to a monarchy, a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of a sultan (the head of a Muslim state); the sultan may be an absolute ruler or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.

Theocracy - a form of government in which a Deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the Deity's laws are interpreted by ecclesiastical authorities (bishops, mullahs, etc.); a government subject to religious authority.

Totalitarian - a government that seeks to subordinate the individual to the state by controlling not only all political and economic matters, but also the attitudes, values and beliefs of its population.

List of countries by system of government
http://cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/l/List_of_countries_by_system_of_government.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_system_of_government

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state