Politicalstoner

zolotoivek:

The ethnic origin of the Abkhazians of African descent — and how Africans arrived in Abkhazia — is still a matter of dispute among experts. Historians agree that the settlement of Africans in a number of villages in the village of Adzyubzha in Abkhazia (then part of the Ottoman Empire) is likely to have happened in the 17th century. According to one version, a few hundred slaves were bought and brought by Shervashidze princes (Chachba) to work on the citrus plantations.This case was a unique, and apparently not entirely successful, case of mass import of Africans to the Black Sea coast.

According to another theory, Abkhazians of African descent are the descendants of the Colchians, the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Colchis in present-day western Georgia. However, the question of the likelihood of at least some continuity between the ancient Colchians and current Abkhazians of African descent is not known, because there is no available, reliable evidence of the existence of an African population in historic Kolkhi. They may also derive from the Egyptian Copts or Ethiopian Jews. Abkhazian writer Dmitry Gulia in the book “History of Abkhazia” compared the place names of Abkhazia and the corresponding names in Ethiopia and claimed that some of the geographical names are identical: Bagadi – Bagadi, Gunma – Gunma, Tabakur – Dabakur, etc.

In 1927, the Russian writer Maxim Gorky, together with the Abkhaz writer Samson Chanba visited the village of Adzyubzha and met elderly Africans there. Based on his visit and comparison of his observations with the published data, he felt that the Ethiopian version of the origin of the Abkhazians of African descent is true.

- Source

Portrait of an Afro-Abkhazian man, c. 1870-83. Photo from the George Kennan Papers.

thepoliticalnotebook:

This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.

This round-up will be on hiatus the next two weeks (sorry), but will return! 

• Fierce fighting is ongoing in the Syrian town of Qusair. 
• Palestinians are delaying joining UN agencies, conventions and treaties in order to preserve the current peace effort. 
• A former Israeli border policeman killed himself and four others in a bank in Beersheba after being refused an overdraft and cash by an ATM. 
• Multiple days of clashes between Sunni and Alawite residents in Tripoli, Lebanon have left at least 11 dead. 
• Rami Khouri asks if Hezbollah is at a turning point. 
• Yemenis in the southern city of Aden rallied in support of an independent south.
• Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard who were abducted on the Sinai peninsula last week have been released by their captors, who remain unknown.
• In Tunisia, 200 Islamist protesters were arrested and one killed in clashes with security.
• Karim Mezran at The Atlantic Council worries that Algeria is a powder keg. 
• 300,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the Darfur region this year. 
• 18 soldiers and four Islamists were killed in a gun battle in Agadex, Niger. 
• M23 rebels in the Congo have declared a ceasefire for the UN Secretary General’s visit. 
• With the executions of five Yemenis, the total number executed in Saudi Arabia this year is 47.
• A wave of car bombings across Iraq on late Sunday and early Monday left 76 dead and 250 injured and on Tuesday explosions in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tarmiyah and Tuz Khurmato added at least another 23 to the death toll. 
  
• Iranian presidential candidates Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a former  Ahmadinejad aide, and former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have been disqualified from elections. 
• Iran executed by hanging two men accused and convicted of spying for the CIA and the Israeli Mossad.
• Kim Jong-un sent an envoy to China. 
• North Korea reportedly has a new military chief. 
• The drug war is ramping up in the Mexican state of Michoácan.
• Guatemala’s top court threw out former leader Efrain Rios Montt’s genocide and crimes against humanity convictions. 
• Guantánamo’s WiFi was shut off after the hacker collective Anonymous threatened disruption at the base. 
• The transcript for President Obama’s speech on drone policy and Guantánamo Bay is in full here. 
• Prior to the speech Attorney General Eric Holder publicly acknowledged what was already known: the US had killed Americans abroad with the drone program (four, to be specific).
• The US State Dept’s annual International Religious Freedom Report  found discrimination and bigotry against Muslims and Jews on the rise around the world [PDF]. 
• A former friend of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Ibragim Todashev, implicated Tsarnaev in a 2011 triple murder and then was himself killed when he reportedly attacked FBI agents during questioning. 
• The word terrorism is being used to describe a brutal attack on a London street that left a British soldier dead. One of the attackers recorded a video statement directly following the murder.
• One attacker has now been identified as Michael Adebolajo, and has been connected on some level to the extremist group al-Muhajiroun. 
• The University of Kent has created a Rendition Flights Database, cataloging 11,000 individual flights to create a picture of the global renditions network. 

If you would like to receive this round-up as a weekly email, you can sign up through this form, or email me directly at torierosedeghett@gmail.com.

Photo: Ramallah, West Bank: A Palestinian protester during clashes with Israeli troops near the village of Deir Jarir. Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

(via cognitivedissonance)

publius-esquire:

Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans

Despite that everyone in the new republic was aware of and detested the spirits of faction, as the result of the debates sparking in the 1790s over matters of international and commercial policies, political parties began to form. Federalists, led by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, supported a strong central government, an emphasis on mercantilism, protectionism, and a loose interpretation of the constitution. Their voters consisted of northerners, wealthy merchants, sailors, and free black men. The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, tended to favor strong state governments, supported farming, free trade, and a strict interpretation of the constitution. Their voters tended to be southerners, wealthy planters, yeomen, and white male immigrants. By 1799, the Federalists had made themselves unpopular due to the Alien and Sedition Acts and controversial Quasi-War with France, and the hostility between Adams and Hamilton would split the party in two. In the Election of 1800, Jefferson’s emergence as president, obtained in part due to the Three-Fifth’s Clause, ensured Federalists would never hold the executive office again, though the party would remain active at state level well into the Jacksonian age.

(via foundingfatherfest)

cognitivedissonance:

groovymantis:

justlikeluna:

whataboutthemenses:

blackamazon:

facebooksexism:

breewriteswords:

pleatedjeans:

The mayor of Mississauga, Canada is a badass. via

Hazel McCallion, everbody.

92 years old,

34 years in office,

$0 in debt

$700 million in reserve

Eight prime ministers

One truck.

But women aren’t strong leaders… OH WAIT.

Now I’m sure somebody’s gonna tell me something but

• supports a Palestinian state
• supports Aids Charities
• told her city well if we cant get money y’all need to pay taxes and maintains a 76 approval rating
• nick named Hurricane Hazel
• and is so boss lady that she don’t run she’ tells  folks to give that money to charity

I will always reblog this lady.

Okay, so… why isn’t SHE prime minister? Someone get on that.

OMG this is the very first post i’ve seen of my city ^_^

O_o

Damn.

Kinda trippy

(via rest-thewearysoul)

politicalhipsterlove:

Yessss… I love this picture.

(via liquidbacon)