Single‐Image Rectification Technique in Forensic Science

Many researchers have been working in Spain to document the communal graves of those assassinated during the Spanish Civil War. This article shows the results obtained with two low‐cost photogrammetric techniques for the basic documentation of forensic studies. These low‐cost techniques are based on single‐image rectification and the correction of the original photo displacement due to the projection and perspective distortions introduced by the lens of the camera. The capability of image rectification is tested in an excavation in the village of Loma de Montija (Burgos, Spain). The results of both techniques are compared with the more accurate data obtained from a laser scanner system RIEGL LMS‐Z390i to evaluate the error in the lengths. The first technique uses a camera situated on a triangle‐shaped pole at a height of 5 m and the second positions the camera over the grave using a linearly actuated device. The first technique shows measurement errors less than 6%, whereas the second shows greater errors (between 8% and 14%) owing to the positioning of the carbon‐fiber cross on an uneven surface.     

抗日战争胜利前后报刊媒体的“琉球观”研究

日本诉求钓鱼岛是基于主张该岛屿属于琉球群岛的谬论,但在抗日战争胜利前后,琉球群岛归属问题就引发了中国报刊媒体强烈讨论,形成舆论界的“琉球观”。通过分析与考察该“琉球观”,可以发现：舆论界强烈主张琉球群岛应该归还中国,充分意识到琉球群岛的战略地位,爱国民族主义和前瞻性认知应予以肯定;但受限于时代局限性,“琉球观”不能科学地认知琉球群岛的区域差异性和地理划界,这也造成了对钓鱼岛的叙述存在错误之处。作为中国研究琉球问题肇始的“琉球观”历史书写,不仅奠定了“琉球再议”的历史舆论基点,而且有助于认识钓鱼岛问题的历史根源,可以为当前中国讨论琉球问题和诉求钓鱼岛主权提供历史基础。     

朝鲜半岛和平协定与和平机制

2007年以来东北亚局势的重大变化,使签定取代1953年朝鲜半岛《停战协定》的《和平协定》时机日渐成熟。签定新协定的主体应是朝、韩、美、中四方。达成新协定的主要障碍在于实现持久和平的途径,尤其是美国的立场与政策。只有从"停战机制"转向签订《和平协定》,建立和平机制,东北亚地区的和平与稳定才能得到保障。     

The FBI's Role in Expelling Germans from Ecuador During the 1940s

The expulsion from Latin America of immigrants from axis countries and their descendants is an important but little‐studied episode of the Second World War. The role of the US, and in particular that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in their removal has largely disappeared from historical memory. This article examines how the FBI advanced US commercial interests, and in the process harmed vulnerable people who were subject to these expulsions.     

SIDESTEPPING A QUAGMIRE: RUSSIA,SYRIA, AND THE LESSONS OF THE SOVIET-AFGHAN WAR

Russia's military intervention in Syria (2015-present) has ensured the Assad regime's survival to date. Why though has Russia succeeded in achieving its objective? This article provides an analysis of Russia's involvement in the Syrian civil war in comparison to the Soviet Union's military debacle in Afghanistan (1979-89). Accordingly, by avoiding the USSR's mistakes in Afghanistan, this article posits that Russia has not become entangled in a protracted conflict in Syria. In Syria, Russia has militarily intervened to buttress the Assad regime, not to reorganize the host government's leadership and assume control over the war effort. Meanwhile, Syrian opposition forces lack concerted international support and Russia has allies that are assisting the embattled Syrian government. Lastly, Russia intends to ‘freeze’ the Syrian civil war in place by (i) pressuring opposition forces to submit and other countries to re-embrace Damascus in a diplomatic forum, (ii) endorsing Syria's claim to sovereignty, and (iii) relying upon a small military presence to deter others from destabilizing Assad's rule.     

美国并吞菲律宾过程中在香港之部署——以美国领事活动为中心

香港沦为殖民地后,美国在港活动愈趋频繁。时至美西战争前夕,美国驻香港总领事的委任及其活动为美国军事行动提供了重要支援;在港英当局奥援下,美国方面对菲律宾香港委员会开展舆论、情报及司法等斗争,并思考战后如何利用华人开发菲岛;为策应香港部署,广州、上海、新加坡与马尼拉等地美国领事与香港展开合作,加速并吞菲律宾。上述行动构成美国在东南亚扩张的重要环节,香港成为美国在远东扩张之战略要点,是菲岛以外不见硝烟的"战场"。     

MAKING WAR CRIMINAL

Turk's conflict theory of political criminality is used to account for the virtual cessation of international criminal law enforcement following the Nuremberg Tribunal and its revival through the establishment of The Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Turk's theory further helps to contextualize the little known contribution of Sheldon Glueck to the development of the Nuremberg Trials. Glueck helped overcome Soviet wishes to turn Nuremberg into a show trial and developed the organizational plan for the visual and witness evidence of the Holocaust that led to the most important convictions for crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg Trials. The contributions of Glueck and Turk provide an underappreciated foundation for the criminological study of war crimes and crimes against humanity.     

'Not Proficient in Table-Thumping': Sir Ernest Satow at Peking, 1900-1906

Satow's diplomatic career was more multifaceted than the older, often Japan-centred, assessments of his work suggest. His period as minister to China especially has not been given the attention it deserves. His appointment to the Peking legation coincided with one of the most momentous periods in Sino-Western relations in the aftermath of the Boxer crisis of 1900. Satow exercised significant influence on the negotiations which led to the Boxer settlement of September 1901; and he proved to be a shrewd and skilful player in the Great Power competition for influence in China. The last two years of his term at the head of the Peking legation were taken up with steering British diplomacy through the turbulences caused by the Russo-Japanese War.     

Who Fought the Algerian War? Political Identity and Conflict in French-Ruled Algeria

Why did settlers, natives, and metropolitan agents fight each other as “French” and “Algerian” during the famously brutal Algerian War of the 1950s? While scholars identify key factors in launching and escalating the war, they take for granted that it was fought between “the French” and “the Algerians” when evidence shows that those terms were also a source of struggle among the parties involved in the war. Drawing on insights from the fields of colonial studies and collective action, along with archival sources, the article explains why this particular set of terms framed the war, in other words, why the categories “French” and “Algerian” predominated in the political discourse, and why they were so opposed to each other. It contends that punctuated political conflicts among state authorities and social-movement organizations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rather than indigenous cultural or social structural factors, played a key role in constructing this identity framework. The article concludes by challenging our basic definitions of the war and the prevailing theories about its course and outcomes.