Black Knight Research Articles

AlphaFold and Protein Folding: Not Dead Yet! The Frontier Is Conformational Ensembles.

Like the black knight in the classic Monty Python movie, grand scientific challenges such as protein folding are hard to finish off. Notably, AlphaFold is revolutionizing structural biology by bringing highly accurate structure prediction to the masses and opening up innumerable new avenues of research. Despite this enormous success, calling structure prediction, much less protein folding and related problems, "solved" is dangerous, as doing so could stymie further progress. Imagine what the world would be like if we had declared flight solved after the first commercial airlines opened and stopped investing in further research and development. Likewise, there are still important limitations to structure prediction that we would benefit from addressing. Moreover, we are limited in our understanding of the enormous diversity of different structures a single protein can adopt (called a conformational ensemble) and the dynamics by which a protein explores this space. What is clear is that conformational ensembles are critical to protein function, and understanding this aspect of protein dynamics will advance our ability to design new proteins and drugs.

Assessment of the influence of the ADC resolution of the coherent radar on the accuracy of determining the coordinate of the projectile flight

The article considers the development of a heavy-class robotic ground combat system based on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier. Analysis of samples the heavy class combat robotic ground complexes showed that they can be developed on the basis of serial crewed military vehicles HMMWV (AM General), M-ATV (Oshkosh), BMP-3 (Russia), T-72 (Russia), M113 (Israel), Patria AMV (Finland) or create a new design MDARS (AM General), Black Knight (BAE Systems), "Uran-9" (Russia), TYPE-X (Milrem Robotics). They are made on a tracked or wheeled platform. What unites this class of robotic ground combat systems is a remotely controlled combat module with a 25-30 mm cannon, anti-tank guided missiles, a machine gun and a grenade launcher, which can be controlled from a distance.
 A comparative analysis of the tactical and technical characteristics the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier with military vehicles with a 30 mm cannon in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been performed. As a result, the choice of BTR-4E armored personnel carrier as the basic crew unit for the construction of a heavy class robotic ground combat system has been substantiated.The analysis of the design of control drives of the power plant, transmission, braking system, steering system and combat module installed on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier was carried out in terms of the possibility of implementing remote control of movement and fire. 
 The structure of a combat ground robotic complex based on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier with different variants of remote control panels, means of establishing communication channels and construction of a remote control station is proposed.
 For example, the driver's remote control panel may be designed on the basis a tablet or on the basis a simulator for full simulation of control commands. Remote controls for the commander and gunner can be designed on the basis of regular controls and be similar to them for quick training of the crew to work.
 Communication between remote control units and the controlled armored personnel carrier can be arranged using ultrashort-wave radios or via the 4G, 5G mobile network.
 The remote control point can also be developed on the basis a BTR-4E armored personnel carrier, a military vehicle or deployed on the ground. It depends on the concept of application of the heavy class combat ground robotic complex.

The development of a heavy class combat robotic ground complex based on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier

The article considers the development of a heavy-class robotic ground combat system based on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier.
 Analysis of samples the heavy class combat robotic ground complexes showed that they can be developed on the basis of serial crewed military vehicles HMMWV (AM General), M-ATV (Oshkosh), BMP-3 (Russia), T-72 (Russia), M113 (Israel), Patria AMV (Finland) or create a new design MDARS (AM General), Black Knight (BAE Systems), "Uran-9" (Russia), TYPE-X (Milrem Robotics). They are made on a tracked or wheeled platform. What unites this class of robotic ground combat systems is a remotely controlled combat module with a 25-30 mm cannon, anti-tank guided missiles, a machine gun and a grenade launcher, which can be controlled from a distance.
 A comparative analysis of the tactical and technical characteristics the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier with military vehicles with a 30 mm cannon in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been performed. As a result, the choice of BTR-4E armored personnel carrier as the basic crew unit for the construction of a heavy class robotic ground combat system has been substantiated.
 The analysis of the design of control drives of the power plant, transmission, braking system, steering system and combat module installed on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier was carried out in terms of the possibility of implementing remote control of movement and fire.
 The structure of a combat ground robotic complex based on the BTR-4E armored personnel carrier with different variants of remote control panels, means of establishing communication channels and construction of a remote control station is proposed.
 For example, the driver's remote control panel may be designed on the basis a tablet or on the basis a simulator for full simulation of control commands. Remote controls for the commander and gunner can be designed on the basis of regular controls and be similar to them for quick training of the crew to work.
 Communication between remote control units and the controlled armored personnel carrier can be arranged using ultrashort-wave radios or via the 4G, 5G mobile network.
 The remote control point can also be developed on the basis a BTR-4E armored personnel carrier, a military vehicle or deployed on the ground. It depends on the concept of application of the heavy class combat ground robotic complex.

Elimination of coexisting canna yellow mottle virus, bean yellow mosaic virus and cucumber mosaic virus from Canna generalis cv. black knight through in vitro chemotherapy of rhizome explants.

During our previous study, the mixed infection of canna yellow mottle virus (CaYMV), bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV), and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was identified in a Black Knight cultivar of canna exhibiting severe yellow streak and mottling symptoms. Before the development of the virus-free plants, the ability of callogenesis and organogenesis from the ovary, stalk, and rhizome explants was tested on different concentrations and combinations of TDZ, NAA, BAP, and Ads growth regulators. The performance of rhizome explants was above all the explant types and 33.33 ± 1.67 rhizomes (out of 50 placed) showed callus development on ME medium (MS supplemented with 0.8mg/L TDZ and 0.25mg/L NAA) and further on a refined M4 medium (MS supplemented with 4.0mg/L BAP, 1.0mg/L NAA and 50mg/L Ads) produced 4.06 ± 0.16 shoots per explant. The development of virus-free plants was attempted by in vitro chemotherapy using ribavirin. Not only in callogenesis and shoot development but also in the ribavirin treatments, rhizomes developed about 3.78 ± 0.68 shoots per explant on 40mg/L ribavirin in the ME medium. These optimizations suggested that ME medium for callogenesis, M4 medium for shoot development and the treatment of 40mg/L ribavirin for 30days at M4 medium was effective. The elimination of coinfection of all three viruses from rhizome explants of 0.5 cm2 of the Black Knight cultivar was attempted. Consequently, a total of 53.33% of plants free from all three viruses (48 out of the 90 plants developed) were obtained when screened by RT-PCR and PCR for their absence.

Contested elections, protest, and regime stability: comparing Belarus and Bolivia

ABSTRACT This article examines the 2020 election and ongoing protest movement in Belarus by comparing them to the contested election in Bolivia (2019) that led to the overthrow of Evo Morales and his MAS party. In each case, a contested election brought about widespread street protests, which called into question the legitimacy of the governing regime. However, only in Bolivia do we see a turnover in state power. In Belarus, Aliaksandr Lukashenka has defied social movement protests and maintained control of the state. This article analyzes the role of the police and military forces and the geopolitical relations of each country and argues that, unlike Bolivia, where Morales’s key military allies defected, the Belarusian government has managed to stay in power with the combination of strong coercive capacity and the support of a regional “black knight” – Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Such findings open the way for cautious prognoses for the ongoing protests in Belarus.

China’s new regional responsiveness: passive agency and counter-agency in processes of democratic transitions in Asia

ABSTRACT This article undertakes a critical reassessment of the “black knight” role associated with the People’s Republic of China in connection with recent processes of democratic decline in and beyond Asia. The time frame covered are the years 2013 to early 2020. In 2013, China officially launched its New Silk Road initiative, building cross-continental connectivity networks and trans-regional trade corridors. The internal stability of states along this New Silk Road is of crucial importance for the realization of Beijing’s ambitious plan. How, then, does China view and interpret regime (trans)formations in its immediate neighbourhood? Is there any robust evidence for intentional agency (or counter-agency) of China in these processes? The article examines three case studies of “democratic regression” and “autocratic hardening” in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia) and compares the findings to China’s special relationship with Vietnam – like China a socialist one-party state.

The patterns of Chinese authoritarian patronage and implications for foreign policy: Lessons from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia

This study compares Chinese autocracy promotion in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia from the perspective of mass atrocities. Theory posits that foreign powers influence the thinking and behaviour of domestic elites through external incentives. It is the purpose of the article to identify the incentives that link Chinese foreign policy to repressive outcomes as they unintentionally and indirectly reinforce domestic ethno-nationalist narratives and therefore the likelihood and risk of mass atrocities. What are the implications? The so-called “black knight” is not as powerful as some scholars wish to portray: China has become hostage to its own incentives and this will ultimately threaten to undermine its foreign policy goals as the reorientation of foreign policy in Sri Lanka, opposition against Chinese projects in Myanmar and public discontent of the Cambodian opposition with China have demonstrated.

Use Your Allusion: Echoes of Shakespeare, Spenser, Drayton, and Kyd in an Early Jacobean Poem

This article offers a critical reassessment of a much-neglected early Jacobean poem: Thomas Andrewe's The Unmasking of a Feminine Machiavel, a 904-line dream vision poem published in December 1604 at the end of King James I's first full year in power. The poem is modeled on a number of earlier works, including Geoffrey Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, John Lydgate's Complaint of the Black Knight, and the Mirror for Magistrates, and offers what scholars have tended to see as an autobiographical account of Andrewe's youth and misfortunes in love, as well as the part he played in the Battle of Newport (July 2, 1600). Though some of The Unmasking's intertextual features have been acknowledged before, this article seeks to fill a void in contemporary scholarship by addressing several other literary sources for Andrewe's poem and considering some of their more specific, political resonances. In so doing, this article shows that Andrewe echoes a number of contemporary authors—from Michael Drayton and Edmund Spenser to William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd—to articulate wider tensions and anxieties over the recent peace settlement with Spain. By providing new insight into the politics behind Andrewe's appropriation of these authors, this article also aims to bring Thomas Andrewe himself into sharper focus, using his relationship to key playwrights and poets of the period (in particular, the "Jacobean Spenserians") in order to illustrate the close textual and thematic connections between dramatic and nondramatic materials and between the canon's major and minor authors and to argue for the poem's status as topical allegory published under the guise of personal complaint.

Improving the Kremlin’s Preventive Counter-Revolution Practices after the 2011–2012 Winter of Discontent and the Euromaidan

This paper argues that between 2012 and 2019, the Kremlin recalibrated preventive counter-revolutionary practices due to fears that an event like the Arab Spring or Euromaidan could occur in Moscow or that the 2011–2012 winter of discontent could return. While the Kremlin returned to practices of the preventive counter-revolution used after 2004, the tactics increased creating a “politics of fear.” The preventive counter-revolution post-2012 implemented new tactics, incorporating an external element of countering the involvement of Western states in destabilizing authoritarian regimes, specifically in the post-Soviet space, thereby attempting to weaken Western states. The tactics of the preventive counter-revolution after 2012 have the potential to coup-proof the Kremlin and serve as a model for other authoritarian regimes to devise methods to counter Western states and democratization, thereby allowing the Kremlin to become a model and black knight for other authoritarian regimes.

Black knight as a strategic choice? Causes and modes of Russia's support to the authoritarianism in Southern Caucasus

AbstractDespite recurring elections and the transition to multiparty systems, authoritarianism has re-emerged in the Post-Soviet Space. Along with domestic factors, the external dimension should also be considered to fully understand this regional trend. Scholars depict Russia as a typical ‘black knight’ for democracy. While most of the literature deals with the Kremlin's policies in the ‘new’ Eastern Europe, this article pays attention to Russia's actions in the relatively understudied Southern Caucasus. Specifically, it investigates why and how Moscow tried to thwart democratization in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The diachronic analysis addresses three periods, namely, Yeltsin's presidency, the first Putin presidency and the Putin–Medvedev diarchy. Findings suggest that the Kremlin implemented an increasingly nuanced and intentional black knight strategy in Southern Caucasus, aimed at gaining primacy in the Post-Soviet Space and recognition of its great power status.

“Aeneid” by Anatolii Bazylevych: Picturesque Mythologization of Poem by Ivan Kotliarevskyi

The article analyzes 120 drawings by A. Bazylevych, the outstanding Ukrainian artist of the 20th century, created for the editions of “Aeneid” by I. Kotliarevskyi in 1969 and 1970. The subject matter is a look at the drawings in the status of a picturesque author’s myth. The skill of ‘visual intelligence’ of the artist is demonstrated in the picturesque original reading of the poem by Kotliarevskyi as a phenomenon of the Baroque with expressive literary methods of ‘image turning’ that contributed to this process and acquired the significance of historical and literary classics. The assumption as for the artist’s mastering of the Baroque concept of Chyzhevskyi that was popular in the 1960s as well as the single-stage development of the Italian-Ukrainian culture of laughter (according to M. Bakhtin) and appreciation of picture poesis (poetry as painting, according to L. B. Alberti) are suggested. This interaction lined up the picturesque myth of Bazylevych through the artistic transformation techniques of ‘image turning’, burlesque travesty of ‘booklore’. This produced the formation of the mythological image of Aeneas as a ‘black knight’ (in the edition of 1969) in the traditions of Western European literature. The view of life through mythological red colour founded by the legendary book cover reveals the content of the ‘red Aeneas’, being signified with red clothing items, shoes, and above all the red Cossack heraldry on the flag, combining Aeneas with Trojan-Cossacks, representing the ‘red world’. Aenei-myth is considered as a Cossack Sorcerer due to the suffix specificity of H. Cohen and physical plastic with folk content that unite the Trojans-Cossacks with the gods.

Democratic sanctions meet black knight support: revisiting the Belarusian case

ABSTRACTDemocracy promotion through economic sanctions has become commonplace. Previous studies argue that an important challenge to the effectiveness of democratic sanctions is the contravening support of black knights. However, these studies underestimate conflicting interests between the target and its black knight. In this paper, I propose a bargaining model for understanding how targets obtain support from black knights. The target’s main source of bargaining power is its threat to defect from the black knight and obtain support from an international rival. However, the credibility of this threat decreases with democratic sanctions because they hinder cooperation with a likely source of support, namely the sender. Therefore, targets take steps towards democracy to improve their bargaining position relative to the black knight. To probe my argument, I conduct a deep single case study of EU sanctions against Belarus between 2004 and 2016 with Russia as a black knight. Sanctions should have no effect in this paradigmatic case of black knight support. Yet, there is substantial evidence that democratic sanctions have increased the cost of electoral fraud and state repression in Belarus. This indicates that the conflicting interests of targets and their black knights provide windows of opportunity for democracy promotion.

Economic coercion and the problem of sanctions-proofing

Although sanctions generate economic costs, target states may “sanctions-proof” their regime by borrowing capital from abroad. While some targets obtain interest-free capital from black knight states, others may need to borrow with interest from international credit markets. These interest rates may sometimes make borrowing cost-prohibitive, giving targets no choice but to acquiesce to the demands of the sender. However, since senders cannot observe if black knight states are assisting target states, targets have an incentive to misrepresent their source of external capital. In an effort to deter sanctions, targets that must borrow at high interest rates may signal that they have black knight support and are sanctions-proofed. We formally and empirically demonstrate that in this uncertain environment, senders are more likely to impose sanctions on targets with low credit ratings, but only do so if the target places a relatively low value on uninterrupted economic transactions with the sender.

“The Latvian Dream” as a Meeting Space with the Other

In Latvian literature, there is a dream (or vision or some other subconscious process) about Latvianness and Latvian national identity, which has repeatedly appeared for more than a few decades. The hero of this dream meets the Other and this confrontation allows him to recognize and understand himself, something that is difficult to achieve in a state of consciousness. The Other is not always a Black Knight in armour reflecting upon the life of an ordinary peasant; he can also be another Latvian, usually an (im) migrant – someone who sees the nation from a very different perspective.This article focuses on several literary works depicting this kind of extraordinary meeting while asleep or unconscious (the space of a dream, a projection, a fairy-tale or a fantasy journey) with a variously understood Other, including Wannem Ymanta (1802) by Garlieb Merkel, the epic Lāčplēsis (The Bear-Slayer, 1888) by Andrejs Pumpurs, Lāčplēsis trimdā (Lāčplēsis in exile, 1958/1986/1990) by Dzintars Sodums and Latviešu sapnis (Latvian dream, 2002) by Agnese Bule. All of these books were very important at key turning-points or difficult moments in Latvia’s history – the process of national awakening and identity-building always involved depicting the other face of the Other.

Returning Risk and Opportunity: Assessing the Reperforming Loan Market

Largely a byproduct of financial industry and federal government efforts to aid troubled homeowners with mortgages in the wake of the Great Recession, the reperforming loan (RPL) market is a more pervasive part of the mortgage asset landscape than one might imagine. Loan modification programs greatly expanded the RPL landscape, with rapid increases beginning in 2010 by way of modifications executed under the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Leveraging loan-level mortgage performance and servicer contributed loan modification data from Black Knight Financial Services, the author assesses the importance, size, makeup and performance of the RPL market. In the process, the analysis examines key differentiators in RPL re-default and prepayment risks including RPL seasoning, modification type, post-modification interest rate step-ups and more.

The independent’s edge in an illegal drug distribution setting: Levitt and Venkatesh revisited

Popular imagery and scholarly research have differed significantly in their perceptions and understanding of the structure and scope of organized crime and gang settings. While the common image is that of the corporate-like or formal criminal organization, past research has been more likely to argue and demonstrate in favour of market and network flexibility. In this study, we pursue this latter line of inquiry by demonstrating the market and network features that shape illegal drug distribution settings. In doing so, we rely on the Quebec Hells Angels accounting books for a one-year period, which brings us within the same empirical domain as Levitt and Venkatesh’s (2000) study of the Black Knights in 1990s Chicago. Our study sways from the main premise that oriented the Black Knight’s case study—namely that performance within the illegal drug distribution structure was directly tied to that organization’s rigid hierarchical structure. While the Hells Angels can be analyzed as a corporation, this does not mean that Hells Angels members are, by definition, at an advantage because of their organizational status in the illegal drug distribution setting in which some members are active. What our findings indicate is that a participant’s ability to adapt to market dynamics and take on a core network position within an illegal drug market (cocaine, in this study) matter most. Overall, we demonstrate that: 1) Quebec’s cocaine market was structured primarily around traditional market forces; 2) the transaction network around the Hells Angels was not centralized around a single person or small group of people; 3) Hells Angels members were not the most active participants; and 4) being a Hells Angels member did not increase one’s volume of transactions within the network—quite differently, core network positioning did.

The Melancholy Muse: Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Early Medicine by Carol Falvo Heffernan

REVIEWS CAROL FALVO HEFFERNAN. The Melancholy Muse: Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Early Medicine. Duquesne Language and Literature Series, vol. 19. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1995. Pp. xiv, 185. $48.00. The theory ofhumors stimulated far-reaching discourses on erotic love and mental disorders, the psychological and social consequences of which are still with us. Although since Ovid, the signs ofmelancholy and affiliated mania had been widely dispersed in imaginative and moral literature, Carol Falvo Heffernan's book is a reminder that the medical conception ofmelancholy is both prior and persistent. Still, The Melan­ choly Muse strikes this reader more as an extended essay, along the lines of John Livingston Lowes's 1914 article "The Loveres Maladye of Hereos," rather than a deeply scholarly work or a highly imaginative in­ terdisciplinary study. Heffernan says that her aim "to demonstrate that the two poets and the medieval-Renaissance physicians viewed melan­ choly in parallel ways" may seem "too modest" (p. 4). Apart from the problems entailed in compressing fourteenth- and sixteenth-century constructions of melancholy, Heffernan's modesty ofpurpose prevents her from fully developing, for her readers' benefit, relevant issues in med­ ical theory such as the physiology ofthe body's heat, humors burnt to ashes, the rising ofthe spirits from the lower body to the brain, brain cell theory, and the like. To know more about the circulation ofthe doc­ trine of adustion in the sixteenth century might suggest new ways of reading such a line as "Consumed with that which it was nourished by." After a survey ofwritings on melancholy from Galen to Bernard of Gordon, Heffernan analyzes Chaucer's narrator ofThe Book ofthe Duchess, Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare's Jaques in As You Like It, and Hamlet. The narrator ofThe Book ofthe Duchess does not suffer from "a clear-cut case oflovesickness" (p. 41), although he must suffer from some form of amor hereos, melancholy, or mania, which causes his insomnia. His attempt to cure himselfwith reading can be derived from medical reme­ dies for "melancholy care" and "mania" that include listening to songs (Avicenna) and reading aloud (Caelius Aurelianus). Moreover, congenial conversation and pleasant surroundings will cure such patients as the black knight and his interlocutor, according to Caelius Aurelianus, Johannes Afflacius, and Bernard ofGordon. Is Dorigen Chaucer's femi­ nine counterpart to these distraught males? Furthermore, what does the medical diagnosis oflovesickness have to do with the noble love of literature and the court? In Avicenna, the medical problem and the psychological state belong to two different 253 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER domains, the former expounded in the Canon ofMedicine, the latter in the Treatise on Love. For relief of the medical ailment of amor hereos, Avicenna prescribes coitus. Heffernan refuses to pursue this medical remedy for Troilus and Criseyde and takes issue with Mary Wack's view (1984) of Criseyde as "a cure for Troilus's lovesickness" on the grounds that "The erotic high point ofthe consummation in book 3, considered from this perspective, is reduced to 'a night in therapeutic intercourse with Criseyde,"' which situation "would seem to make a love poem cap­ tive to-rather than based on-the medical model" (p. 86). But one might ask why we should hesitate to trust this poet to be playing more than one game at once. Despite, or because of, Heffernan's careful map­ ping ofthe transformation of Troilus's lovesickness to the "purest form oflove," her argument stops short ofthe possibilities ofboth the comic aspects of curative sex silently voiced by Criseyde at the end of book 2 and also the religious transcendence of veneal love and earthly death seen in the Troilus of the epilogue. Whereas Heffernan identifies Jaques's "most humorous sadness" as the adust type ofmelancholy, which derives from the burnt-offexcess of humors (pp. 98, 103, 105), Hamlet's melancholy has advanced to the hallucinatory stage by act 3, ifhis mother is right that the ghost he sees is "the very coinage" of his own brain; for melancholy madness in Andrew Boorde's The Breviarie of Health (1547) is, to begin with, "a sickness full offantasies, thinking to here or to see that thing that is not heard nor seene...

Obydenkova, Anastassia and Libman, Alexander (eds) Autocratic and Democratic External Influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia (review)

SEER, 94, 4, October 2016 780 Obydenkova, Anastassia and Libman, Alexander (eds). Autocratic and Democratic External Influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia. Soviet Politics. Ashgate, Farnham and Burlington, VT, 2015. xvi + 188 pp. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £60.00. It is often difficult to adequately review an edited book, especially when it draws on a wide range of case studies and covers two important literatures. I therefore ask the reader to humour me and accept a review of the authoritarian promotion and theoretical sections of the book. There are better analyses of democratic external influences than this book provides and authoritarian promotion remains an understudied topic. Of even more relevance to understanding is the theory-building in the first two chapters provided by the volume’s editors. It is the authoritarian promotion and theoretical aspects which give the study its value. Analysis of authoritarian promotion is currently very much a growth industry in academia. I use the term authoritarian, rather than autocracy, the chosen value throughout the book, as at no point is there a definition of what the authors mean by autocracy. The book requires an explanation of why the authors refer to Russia as an autocracy, which is a state ruled by one man, but the book fails to elucidate this. Another issue throughout is the necessity for a further round of copy editing. However, there is certainly value to the study’s investigation. The editors are correct that there is an imbalance between democratic and authoritarian promotion with a significant analysis of ‘democratic external influence and devoted much less attention to other types of influence’ (p. 7). In their introduction, Libman and Obydenkova set out the analysis that seeks to ascertain if external factors affect states. In terms of authoritarianism the analysis is concerned with ‘why, how and to what extent autocratic countries affect regime transition’ (p. 3). The analysis is interesting for its investigation of supranational and subnational levels and not just the state-level. This basis sets the scene for the comprehensive theoretical chapter by Obydenkova and Libman. In terms of authoritarianism, a key argument is the creation of a framework to ascertain if ‘autocratic regimes have a negative effect on democratization abroad’ (p. 11). While the chapter is novel, investigating actors apart from the state, gaps in the literature are not adequately addressed. The authors claim that Russia is not the only ‘active player in the post-Soviet regionalism’ (p. 21), but throughout the book Russia predominates as the authoritarian promoter par excellence. The chapters provided by Tom Casier and Jakob Tolstrup deliver some valuable, interesting and promising analysis. After reading so far the reader is richly rewarded by an analysis of intended and unintended consequences REVIEWS 781 of EU and Russian promotion in the shared neighbourhood. Through interdependence, diffusion from state to state and attraction are all relevant processes in how the EU and Russia impact their neighbours. The only small issue is that Casier’s analysis focuses on the EU to a far greater extent than Russia and so could have been included in the democratic influence section. Tolstrup’s chapter, too, is well argued and comprehensive with Russia cast as the authoritarian black knight in Ukraine and Moldova, destabilizing its neighbours to keep them in its sphere-of-influence, since as secessionist regions Russia’s neighbours cannot join Western institutions (p. 116). Although it is still too early to provide detailed analysis, the chapter perhaps could have used an investigation of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics to ascertain how Russia is continuing to undermine Ukraine. Thelasttwochaptersconcentrateonsupra-nationalauthoritarianinstitutions and public diplomacy in Russia. Ekaterina Furman’s chapter is interesting for its analysis of Kremlin-supported NGOs and the regime’s views on soft power. The author finds that NGOs do not appear to be ‘relatively ineffective in terms of supporting regimes abroad, even if they intended to’ (p. 171). This lack of promotion is the elephant in the room in Libman’s chapter. Having provided a general analysis of regional organizations as potential harbingers of authoritarianism through economic, legitimation and governance support and where the case study of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) ‘shields its members from the democratizing impact...

Monstrous Morgana: Arthurian Women as Unnatural Amazons in Madame Xanadu (2008–2010)

adame Xanadu, written by Matt Wagner and published by DC Vertigo from 2008-2010 in twenty-nine issues, is one of DC Comics' most recent retellings ofArthurian characters operating in the modern world.1 The story focuses on the sorceress Nimue (aka Madame Xanadu) as she travels through the centuries from the idyllic days of Arthur's court until she settles in New York City in the 1930s (Issue 9, May 2001) where she remains until the series concludes in the 1960s (Issue 29, January 2011). Throughout these many centuries, she battles her nemesis, her sister Morgana (aka Morgan Le Fay), whose every behavior and interest contrasts jarringly with Nimue's. Readers easily recognize Morgana as the villain of the story because of her unchecked sexual appetite, her revealing clothing, and her bloodlust as she destroys her lovers and devotees or anyone who crosses her. Morgana dresses as an Amazon warrior determined to dominate those around her through trickery, seduction, and violence. Nimue has been constructed to appeal to a more 'natural' reading of medieval fantasy femininity based on her gentle interactions with woodland creatures, her submission to the powerful men in her story-including Merlin and the Stranger-and also her girlish, waif-like appearance that positions her as more sexually demure and passive than her lascivious sister. Even though Merlin and the Stranger often behave in ways that could be seen as also questionable or self-serving, it is Morgana's gender that marks her as the clear villain.2 Yet, Morgana appears as more than a villain; she has evolved into a monster. This series offers contrasting dichotomies of womanhood that clearly envision Morgana as the unnatural, destructive, and monstrous woman whose bid for agency, sexual autonomy, and power consistently meets with punishment and reprimand by her sister. Her contrapuntal role allows writers and readers to define that which is normal, right, and good through their understanding that Morgana is inherently abnormal, wrong, and bad.MORGAN LE FAY IN COMIC BOOKSFor decades, Morgan Le Fay has appeared in a number of comics as a villain whose unnaturally aggressive sexual behaviors have almost always been the cause of her defeat and demise.3 Since the 1950s, Morgan has appeared frequently in a number of titles published by Marvel and by DC as the sexy scoundrel and hero's nemesis.4 She was first introduced into the Marvel Comics Universe in May 1955 when she debuted in Black Knight #1. Writer Stan Lee and illustrator Joe Maneely created a large-breasted, scantily clad sorceress whose character would often materialize in many other Marvel titles over the next fifty years. In these books, Morgan battled Doctor Doom, the Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, and Spider-Woman, Marvel's first spin-off heroine.5 This Morgan has made at least fifty-seven appearances in a variety of Marvel comic titles.6 Jack Kirby later introduced his own version of Morgaine Le Fay for DC Comics, debuting in The Demon #1 in September 1972 and acting again as the eponymous hero's archenemy.7 Over the decades, this Morgan also challenged many of the great heroes of the DC Universe including Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman in the series Trinity (June 2008 until July 2009).8 Generally, Morgan Le Fay's power derives from her sexuality and desire to destroy the heroes around her by using her cleavage and charms. Unnaturally libidinous, Morgan functions as a sexual deviant whose appetite may be monstrous, but she herself is not drawn as a monster. Her sexuality certainly is represented as causing alarm and disdain, but does not always mark her as totally inhuman, especially as she battles other women who also possess their own sexual agency and peculiarities in these issues.9Morgan Le Fay's dehumanization and transformation into a monster began with DC Comics' maxi-series Camelot3000, published from December 1982 until April 1985 in twelve issues and written by Mike W Barr (writer) and Brian Bolland (penciller and inker). …

The match between Leopardi, the White Knight and Severino over the destiny of mankind

Emanuele Severino’s latest book on Giacomo Leopardi’s writings, In viaggio con Leopardi: La partita sul destino dell’uomo, is seen as a ‘match’ between the Black Knight (Leopardi) and the White Knight (Western tradition) to halt the imminent destruction of mankind. A third player emerges, who, however, does not participate in the match but is capable of recognizing the catastrophic direction the game is taking, that is, threatening Western civilization itself.