Sign Of Victory Research Articles

To Show or Not to Show? The Depiction of Terror and Death in Nairobi

ABSTRACT This study examines the metajournalistic discourse reflected in the use of corpse images from the DusitD2 terror attack in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2019. Drawing from concepts such as responsibility and resistance ethics, this study explores the viewpoints of Kenyan journalists and bloggers. Situated within qualitative research methodology, the findings suggest that the New York Times’ use of victims’ corpse images reflects a double standard and visual bias, and its defense of the news report can be considered an example of professional posturing. Conversely, sharing of perpetrators’ postmortem pictures produced mixed findings among audiences. While online circulation was blamed on bloggers’ inexperience, it was also seen as a sign of victory for the value of visual evidence. This study also contributes to the scholarship on use of graphic images by drawing on African ethical systems and just war theory.

The Polish-Turkish war of 1620–1621: Myths and istorical reality

The subject of the investigation is created by historiography, prospects of the Polish-Turkish war in its diversity of existing concepts; the major event in it turns out to be the Battle of Khotyn. The topic of the article is the study of existing myths, generated by worldviews of the authors, traditional heredity of theoretic-methodological principles of knowledge of the historical process, which used their own sympathies and antipathies, the dominant ideology in society, which distorted the reality of the causes of the war and its course. The aim of the research is, on the basis of the analysis of the sources and scientific achievements of scientists, to determine the main myths of the Polish-Turkish War, the content of each and to argument their unreliability. The methodological principles of the research are first principles of historism, objectivity, and systematicity; theoretical findings of neo-positivism, the school of «The Annals» and the «new political history». Problematic-chronological, historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-systemic methods, as well as methods of rational reconstruction of the text and historical-cultural attribution are used. Results. It is established the mythologization of the «triumph of Polish weapons» near Khotyn that began with the sacralization of this event in the breve of Pope Gregory XV in 1621 and 1623. The 10th of October (the next after the conclusion of the Treaty of Khotyn, when the Turkish army left its positions) was announced by them as a holiday in honor of Mary the Mother of God and the patron saints of Poland as a sign of victory. Thus, the spiritual matrix of its perception by Polish society and researchers was laid for centuries. In Ukrainian historiography, the cult of majesty of Khotyn began to form in the mid-50s of the 20th century. In Polish and Ukrainian historiographies, in spite of historical reality, the leading myths were about Porto as a brutal aggressor, who sought to «enslave» Poland and Ukraine, reach the Baltics, unite with Protestants, and defeat Austria. Simultaneously, the myth about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a peaceful state, devoid of imperial plans to defeat Turkey and establish protection over the Danube principalities was also formed. In its turn it formed the basis for the emergence of the myth about the beginning of war not by the Polish army’s intervention in Porto in the autumn of 1620 (Tsetsor campaign) and its defeat, but by the Turkish army’s counterattack in the summer of 1621. The mythology of reticence or negative assessment of Borodavka’s activity, which played a decisive role in the formation of a powerful Cossack (Ukrainian) army, providing it with proper weapons, provant and food, and timely arrival in Khotyn, is wrong. Most Polish historians, contrary to the truth, continue to hide the key role of the Cossacks in the Battle of Khotyn, putting the Polish-Lithuanian army in the forefront. Last, perhaps most common, myth about the brilliant victory of the Commonwealth army over the Turkish invaders is as unsubstantiated as the previous ones.Conclusions. The abovementioned myths, created during the XIX–XX centuries, in Ukrainian and Polish historiographies, significantly distort the historical reality of the causes of the Polish-Turkish war, its initiator, the date of the beginning, the consequences of the Battle of Khotyn and its historical significance. Their disproof will contribute to the reconstruction of a more truthful (adequate reality) of this significant event in Central and Eastern Europe.

دور ممارسة بعض الألعاب الإلكترونية في ارتكاب الجرائم لدى عينة من نزلاء دار الملاحظة الإجتماعية

Recently, many electronic games that simulate practical reality in the form of a virtual world, accompanied by loud sounds, various shapes, color pictures, tools and auxiliary techniques, which include in its steps and stages, encourage players to commit crime in a professional manner, and the ability to actually carrying out the crime, or escaping from falling into the reach of the law, is an indication and a sign of victory in the stages of those games, and it does not move from one stage to another until after the crime is completed. The current study aimed to identify the reality of the practice of House of Social Welfare inmates for electronic games, and whether there was a role for electronic games in committing crimes among the study sample, where a sample of 54 inmates of House of Social Welfare in Dammam was selected, in which a personal interview was conducted with the study sample, and the study used the descriptive method. The study reached a number of results, the most important of which are: a positive relationship between playing electronic games and drinking smoke and drugs, and that some electronic games help to stir up sexual instincts, post pictures and disruptive clips, personal speculations and chases with the police, and some electronic games help teach theft, stabbing and drifting cars. The study made a number of recommendations, the most important of which is the need for parents to follow up on their children's games, and the need to tighten control of places for selling electronic games, follow them on the Internet, and raise awareness against their risks.

The Labarum – from Crux Dissimulata and Chi-Rho to the Open Image Cross

Based on the testimony of emperor Constantine the Great himself, Eusebius of Caesarea presented a labarum in the form of crux dissimulata crowned with the Chi-Rho. The continuers of his Church History in the next century, Rufinus of Aquileia, Philostorgius, Socrates of Constantinople, and Sozomen, only kept the cross-shape of the banner, excluding the christogram. This might have happened because in two main sources informing about the vision of Constantine – the accounts of Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius – it was not only the monogram of Christ that played a significant role. The motif of the cross also appears in them, in the account of Eusebius directly, and Lactantius indirectly. Furthermore, Christians interpreted the cross explicitly as a sign of victory. Eusebius wrote about the cross as a symbol of immortality, a triumphant sign of Christ overcoming death. In the account of the bishop of Caesarea, on the other hand, Constantine’s supposed vision included a triumphal sign in the form of a luminous cross, or the symbol of the trophy of salvation. Numismatic evidence also cannot be ignored. Already during the reign of Constantine the Great, the Chi-Rho appeared on the coins both on the shields and on the labarum. However, starting from the reign of Constantius II, coins that were minted included the cross instead of the Chi-Rho on the labarum. It also began to be placed on the shields, in their central part, where the monogram of Christ used to be. Over time, the cross replaced the entire labarum. The iconography present on the coins may prove that the phenomenon of identifying the labarum or Chi-Rho with the cross was not limited to church historiography and was more widespread, although it should be remembered that coins continued to also be decorated with the letters Chi-Rho. Therefore, the representation of the cross did not replace this symbol. However, it cannot be ruled out that the increasingly common image of the cross on coins also contributed to the aforementioned perception of the labarum by church historians.

Jadhav (India v. Pakistan): The Case of Two Winners

The International Court of Justice declared its Judgement in the Jadhav case. The Judgement was seen as a win by both India and Pakistan. It stated that Pakistan breached its obligations under Article 36 of The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963. The court however, ruled that the relief appropriate for the breach was “effective review and reconsideration of Mr. Jadhav’s death sentence by Pakistan in a forum of its own choosing”. India’s media was premature in claiming this judgement as a sign of victory. The article aims to analyse the arguments of the parties and untangle the judgement. The article proceeds to provide a background understanding of the case and then provides a brief summary of the arguments and the judgement. The article further proceeds to provide an analysis of the case and its implications on international law. As part of the conclusion the author shall opine on the significance of the judgement for the Indian diaspora and on the relationship of the neighbouring countries. Further, the article shall analyse and predict the course that the countries shall chart in the shadow of this judgement.

On Identifying Terrorists Using Their Victory Signs

In certain cases, the only evidence to identify terrorists, who are seen in digital images or videos is their hands’ shapes, particularly, the victory sign as performed by many of them when they intentionally hide their faces, and/or distort their voices. This paper proposes new methods to identify those persons for the first time from their victory sign. These methods are based on features extracted from the fingers areas using shape moments in addition to other features related to fingers contours. To evaluate the proposed methods and to show the feasibility of this study we have created a victory sign database for 400 volunteers using a mobile phone camera. The experimental results using different classifiers show encouraging identification results; as the best precision/recall were achieved by merging normalized features from both methods using linear discriminate analysis classifier with 96.6% precision and 96.3 recall. Such a high performance achieved by the proposed methods shows their great potential to be applied for terrorists’ identification from their victory sign.

Cartooning and the Democratic Transition in Tunisia

Cartooning and the Democratic Transition in Tunisia

Truth in Sport

Truth in SportThe classical definition of truth, as the correspondence of something we can call facts and our image of them, applies to discussing those sports where a result is established by simple and unequivocal evaluation, based on sensory perceptions. In the most popular athletic contests, we do not perceive who wins, but we know the result of a measurement, which is later interpreted as the victory or taking a further place. The reading of a measuring device only represents the result, which does not mean that it really is the result. We do not know the real result; by reading the digits on the screen, we already read a sign. Subsequently, it can be interpreted as the sign of victory. We assume that by improving our measuring methods we approach the true representation of the results. It would be, however, naive, to claim that this process will lead to the measurement ceasing to represent and starting to be the represented object, unmediated through any signs. Therefore, apart from the classical conception of truth, we can define truth in sport semiotically as representation, and subsequently interpretation, of a sporting event, performed by the referees and spectators. In this definition truth is sanctioned by the referee's decision, not necessarily based on facts.Some professional sports can be compared to science. A scientific experiment must observe strictly defined conditions and take into account factors valid for its course and results. The conditions of a "sporting experiment" are strictly defined and their correctness is guarded by men and machines. In science, the discovery of a falsehood disqualifies a given "scientific event"; in sport a mistake or breaking the rules can become a controversial decision or a refereeing mistake, and usually are not changed or reviewed, turning into the "truth of sport".

Judas the Maccabaeu's Dream (2 Macc. 15:11-16) and the Egyptian King's Sickle Sword

The description of Judas Maccabaeus’ final battle with Nicanor in 2 Maccabees 15 juxtaposes a blasphemous Nicanor and a pious Judas, confident that he will be victorious with God’s help (2 Macc 15:7-17, 21-4, 26-7). Judas encourages his soldiers not only by referring to God’s interventions in earlier battles as exemplified in the Torah and the Prophets (15:9; cf. 15:21-4), but also by reporting a dream (15:11-16). This dream adds a prophetic act to its presentation of the deceased high priest Onias and the prophet Jeremiah as intercessors for the Jewish people and the Holy City, because Jeremiah extends his right hand and delivers a golden sword to Judas (paradou`nai tw`/ Iouda rJomfaivan crush`n) with the following comment: “Take this holy sword as a gift from God, and crush the opponents with it” (Labe; th;n aJgivan rJomfaivan dw`ron para; tou` qeou`, di jh|~ qrauvsei~ tou;~ uJpenantivou~, 2 Macc. 15:16, my trans.). Afterwards Judas triumphs over Nicanor and utterly shames him by having his head and right arm cut off. He hangs those from the citadel as an unmistakable public victory sign (15:30, 32-5). What is the meaning of Jeremiah’s prophetic act? First, the interpretation that might seem obvious at first glance, that the act emphasizes that Judas is the Jews’ legitimate military leader, installed by God through Jeremiah, can hardly be accurate.

Pride and Prejudice: The Role of Policy and Perception Creation in the Chinese Revolt of 1652 on Dutch Formosa

The events of September 1652 on the island of Formosa were one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of Dutch management of the island, and could arguably be viewed as one of the most severe suppressions of a rebellious group in the seventeenth century. The unexpected, ill-prepared uprising of thousands of frustrated, angry and impoverished Chinese farmers and field hands against Dutch colonial management were successfully, yet in the most severe and savage way, suppressed through a military collaboration between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the local Aborigines of the island. In total some 3,000 Chinese residents of the island were killed, the ‘hacked-off’ head of the leader ‘displayed on a stake […] to frighten the Chinese as a sign of victory over those dastardly traitors’, while three of his lieutenants were tortured to death by Company officials in an effort to extract confessions and information from them. Indeed severe action towards a section of the Formosan colonial society that was primarily responsible for the economic success of the Dutch settlement enterprise.

Selling Suffering in The Courtroom and Marketplace: An Analysis of the Autobiography of Kiranjit Ahluwalia

The book jumped out at me there a photo on the cover of three South Asian women holding hands, uplifted in a sign of victory. Having done work on forms of literary selfrepresentation by Asian women in Britain, exploring how such works can serve as a form of political and social action, I intrigued by this book. Entitled Circle of Light: the Autobiography of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, it being promoted in the front of a mainstream bookstore store in London. It reviewed in The Guardian that same day, again, a mainstream, albeit Left-leaning, newspaper. The review entitled, Telling it like it was (Daniels 1997).

Den triumferande ryttaren i fardhem

Summary On the chancel door of the Romanesque church at Fardhem on Gotland there is a relief of a knight in triumph on horseback, with a subdued armed figure below (fig. 1). Although no thorough interpretation of this scene has been offered so far, Armin Tuulse regarded it as a contest between good and evil, while Aron Andersson suggested that the knight represents Constantine the Great. The two annular objects in the knight's hands seem to be chaplets and were presumably intended to heighten the impression of triumph. Both in fact and imagery a chaplet was the accepted sign of victory and honour in Rome and Byzantium. Rings of this size could admittedly indicate considerable dignity in the medieval West as well, even though they do not seem to have served as insignia of triumph. In Antiquity, the cenotaph of Dexileos in Athens and certain triumphal representations in Imperial Rome may be singled out as ancestors to the Fardhem relief. However, to the medieval mind the most venerated example was the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, which is said to have had the trampled figure of a barbarian beneath the horse. On the Barberini diptych the Emperor (Justinian?) is armed and attended by winged Victories (fig. 2). In the Chludov Psalter Constantine wields a lance in combat with heathens (fig. 3). This imperial iconography survived in the representation of traditional equestrian saints: St. George riding down and stabbing his slayer (fig. 5), and St. Mercurius, also mounted, vanquishing his (fig. 6). Equestrian scenes with chaplets, and knights riding down their armed enemies are to be found both in Antiquity and later. During the Romanesque period, unarmed horsemen whose horses trample on passive, sometimes naked, adversaries turn up frequently on façades and capitals in France and Spain (figs. 7 & 8). As at Fardhem, they wear a tunic and, occasionally, a diadem or a crown. Sometimes a woman stands in front, as was often the case in Roman adventus representations. The identity of the persons involved has been discussed since the 19th century. One current view, early maintained by Emile Mâle, is that the knight represents Constantine, the vanquished figure personifies heathendom or some other enemy (Maxentius), and that the woman is either Constantine's mother, Helena, or the Church personified. On the other hand, Linda Seidel has asserted in recent years that such figures do not represent any particular individuals. However, the fact cannot be ignored that Constantine was indeed conceived of as a knight during the Middle Ages, moreover with a vanquished figure beneath, as for example in Limoges (fig. 11). The model for these French knights, most numerous in Poitou, Saintonge and Angoumois, was, according to Mâle, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which in those times was believed to represent Constantine. Without being hailed as a saint by the Western Church, he was often apostrophized as an ideal ruler. The Eastern Church, on the other hand, canonized him early and he long remained the natural example for the Byzantine Emperors. The dress and actions of the knight at Fardhem seem to proclaim him a temporal prince, probably vanquishing some adversary in the service of the Church. If a particular triumphal figure was referred to, it might well be Constantine, as Aron Andersson suggested. The relief dates from a time when temporal leaders undertook to struggle against the enemies of the Church, both in reality and in epic poetry.