Nontraumatic intracranial epidural hematoma: a case report

An outwardly mummified and inwardly badly decomposed body was found in a garage. At autopsy, no injuries were detected. Apart from coronary heart disease, with an old myocardial scar and a hepatic steatosis, the most striking finding was a large intracranial epidural hemorrhage situated at the left frontal lobe. As a relevant traumatic genesis could be ruled out, we deemed this a nontraumatic epidural hematoma. This finding is extremely rare. Several underlying disorders have been discussed as causes of spontaneous epidural hematomas. In this presented case, the authors discuss possible etiological factors.     

Mass spectral and NMR spectral data of two new designer drugs with an alpha-aminophenone structure: 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinohexanophenone and 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone

This study presents and discusses the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic and mass spectroscopic data of the new designer drug 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinobutyrophenone (MPBP) and its homolog 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinohexanophenone (MPHP) which were seized in 2004 and 2000 in Germany for the first time. The structure elucidation of the aliphatic part of MPBP was carried out by product ion spectroscopy of the immonium ion formed after electron ionization as well as with 1H and 13C NMR. Product ion spectroscopy of immonium ions again proved to be a powerful tool to determine the structure of designer drugs and to distinguish between isobaric structures of the alkyl-amino moiety.     

Mehdi Hashemi and the Iran-Contra-Affair

In November 1986 a Lebanese newspaper revealed the secret arms-for-hostages deal between Tehran and Washington that subsequently became known as the Iran-Contra-Affair. The newspaper had been tipped off by friends of the Iranian radical Mehdi Hashemi who had been arrested shortly before in Iran. This article explores the link between the arrest of the ardent supporter of the then deputy leader Hossein-Ali Montazeri and the secret talks with the US government. The article will show that his arrest was not only an attempt of the then dominant faction around Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to bring the future leader Montazeri under its control, but also an attempt to eliminate a rival actor opposing the rapprochement with the USA and threatening to disrupt the arms-for-hostages deal.     

K. A. Wittfogel's Marxist studies on China (1926–1939)

Abstract

K. A. Wittfogel is one of the most controversial figures in the field of modern Chinese studies. In the early 1950s he established himself as the leading figure in the academic section of the Cold War. Highlights of his “fight for the Free World” were the publication of “Oriental Despotism” in 1958 and the controversy with Benjamin Schwartz over the “Legend of Maoism” in the opening issue of China Quarterly in 1960. Wittfogel was a renegade, given to apocalyptic battle-cries against real or supposed “communist” studies and theories. He claimed to be the only one in his field who by personal experience knew the communist strategies and tactics and their subversive intentions.     

Das Janusgesicht der Unionsbürgerschaft

Zwar sind die Bürgerschaftsnormen (Art. 17 ff. EGV) überwiegend kritisch aufgenommen worden. Dennoch knüpft sich an den Topos der Unionsbürgerschaft ein hoffnungsgeladener Fortschrittsdiskurs. In einer Union, die den Markt als Integrationsziel überwunden hat, verspricht die Unionsbürgerschaft Werte mit Zukunftsperspektive. Sie überwindet die geistige Absenz, die im Herzen der Integration liegt, und stellt in Gestalt einer Grundrechtsfundierung ein auf das Individuum zugeschnittenes ethisches Fundament zur Verfügung. Dieser Fortschrittsdiskurs findet sich insbesondere in den emphatischen Schlussanträgen der Luxemburger Generalanwälte, die die Unionsbürgerschaft als “Grundrecht persönlicher Freiheit“ und als “Gipfel der Individualrechte“ bezeichnen. Der Europäische Gerichtshof hingegen bleibt einerseits sprachlich subtiler, verbindet die Unionsbürgerschaft aber andererseits mit dem Diskriminierungsverbot und setzt durch die Betonung von Gleichheitsrechten statt von Freiheitsrechten eine transnationale Gleichheit voraus, die der Unionsbürgerschaft vorausliegt und große Sprengkraft beinhaltet. Damit gerät die affektive Dimension von Bürgerschaft in den Blick. Wer sich als Bürger eines Gemeinwesens definiert, nimmt die kollektive Identität politischer Gemeinschaft in seine individuelle Identität auf. Dies ist einerseits erwünscht, weil so das soziale Legitimationsdefizit der Union überwunden werden kann. Andererseits birgt es all jene Gefahren, die aus den Hypertrophien und Katastrophen des letzten Jahrhunderts bekannt sind. Dies wiederum erlaubt einen Blick auf die Natur des Rechts, dem eine emanzipatorische und liberale Integrationskraft zugetraut wird. Eine kulturtheoretisch informierte Analyse hingegen zeigt, dass das Recht unter seiner liberalen Oberfläche eine Tiefenstruktur besitzt, die nach wie vor viel Atavistisches transportiert. Auch die Unionsbürgerschaft teilt diese Ambivalenz. Wer auf sie baut, um Europa vom Bürger her zu integrieren, muss sich dieser gefahrvollen Zweischneidigkeit bewusst sein.     

Politicising European security: from technocratic to contentious politics?

Security provision in and by the EU has become an issue of increasing public interest and controversy. There are diverse and growing demands and critiques from different political camps towards the EU while EU institutions, in turn, utilise their security function as a resource for authority construction and self-legitimation. More recently, European security has also become intertwined with contemporary “crises” that turned it into an arena for the negotiation of fundamental conflicts, often revolving around questions of identity and sovereignty. This paper argues that these developments represent a significant change of European security and its politics that existing approaches linking the field to depoliticisation cannot adequately capture. To fill this gap, this paper suggests applying a politicisation perspective that, so far, has focused on the European integration project as such or the “Eurozone crisis” to the purportedly special security field.