More war
This week has been more full than usual.
On Wednesday we had an extra gender class, as the lecturer was unable to give the lecture as scheduled in November.
On Thursday afternoon we had a "Conflict Brief" on the war in Chechnya - timely considering the violent events of that morning in Nalchik.
Thursday evening we had a movie and pizza night at PRIO with the students in the Peace and Conflict masters programme at the Uni of Oslo. On show was The Fog of War, a documentary featuring the insights (on both WW2 and the US-Vietnam War) of former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. I'd come across him as an undergrad while studying the wars in Vietnam. In the film he came across as much less war-mongering than I'd assumed - very sharp but also very anti-red.
It is hard to understand the Cold War mentality having grown up in the post-Cold War era.
I highly recommend The Fog of War for anyone interested in war (especially the ethics of war), US foreign policy (interesting analogies to current policy - just replace "communist" with "terrorist") or 20th Century history more generally.
I also recommend watching an English film with English subtitles. I loved it when the subtitles read "mumbling indistinctly" or "♫♫" when there was background music but no dialogue. There were some other classics but I can't remember them at the moment.
Friday, Saturday and today I have been working on my gender essay, in which I'm looking at what motivates female combatants, particularly those who choose to fight in irregular military forces (eg gorilla warfare). It's due Wednesday, want to finish my first draft tonight so I have some time to make it pretty.
Updating blog is good procrastination :)
But now I should get back to the monkey business.
On Wednesday we had an extra gender class, as the lecturer was unable to give the lecture as scheduled in November.
On Thursday afternoon we had a "Conflict Brief" on the war in Chechnya - timely considering the violent events of that morning in Nalchik.
Thursday evening we had a movie and pizza night at PRIO with the students in the Peace and Conflict masters programme at the Uni of Oslo. On show was The Fog of War, a documentary featuring the insights (on both WW2 and the US-Vietnam War) of former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. I'd come across him as an undergrad while studying the wars in Vietnam. In the film he came across as much less war-mongering than I'd assumed - very sharp but also very anti-red.
It is hard to understand the Cold War mentality having grown up in the post-Cold War era.
I highly recommend The Fog of War for anyone interested in war (especially the ethics of war), US foreign policy (interesting analogies to current policy - just replace "communist" with "terrorist") or 20th Century history more generally.
I also recommend watching an English film with English subtitles. I loved it when the subtitles read "mumbling indistinctly" or "♫♫" when there was background music but no dialogue. There were some other classics but I can't remember them at the moment.
Friday, Saturday and today I have been working on my gender essay, in which I'm looking at what motivates female combatants, particularly those who choose to fight in irregular military forces (eg gorilla warfare). It's due Wednesday, want to finish my first draft tonight so I have some time to make it pretty.
Updating blog is good procrastination :)
But now I should get back to the monkey business.
posted by Lee at
10:00 pm
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