Why the Trump Administration Threatened to Veto a UN Resolution on Wartime Rape

by Nomad

Ever since the human species climbed out of the jungle trees and began throwing rocks at one another, one of the recognized spoils of war was pillaging of the villages, the looting of the valuables and the raping of the women.
For those who subscribed to the adage that might makes right, it was only logical that the weakest should pay the price of the barbarian conquest. 

Throughout our history, women were always at particular risk of sexual victimization during conflict. "To the victor go the spoils" has long been a war cry, and female bodies generally have been classified as part of those spoils of war.

Sanity Sunday - The Music of Schubert and Brahms

by Nomad

For this Sanity Sunday, I want to go back to the Romantic period which is always good for a little mental palate cleansing.

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Dying at the age of 31, his musical career was short and yet he left the world with quite a legacy. That included "more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of piano and chamber music."

The Sanson Memoirs- 3/3

by Nomad

In this the third and final post of the series, we examine how the curse of the revolutionary madness was lifted, how the family curse came to an end. Finally, we ask: What are the parallels to our time?

End of the Curse

For the next seven years after the execution of the French king, the nation saw a series of rebellions within rebellions and partisan uprisings. The timeline shows a convoluted parade of leaders and groups that came and went.

Eventually, the leader of the revolutions, revolutionary leaders, Georges Jacques Danton and the radical Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre, were themselves consumed by the seemingly temporary insanity of the French people.

In Loving Memory of Buffalo Gal

by Nomad

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of one of the members of the group, Ronni Matwijkow, otherwise known as Buffalo Gal. Ronni was much-loved here at Nomadic Politics.

The Sanson Memoirs- 2/3

by Nomad

In the first part of this series, we profiled the Sanson family- the official executioners for imperial France before the Revolution. In this part, we will look at the Charles-Henri's vivid observations of the chaos that overwhelmed France during the revolt.

Your King is Ready to Die

As we noted in Part One, as an eyewitness to historical events particularly those of the French Revolution, Charles- Henri Sanson's diary is both fascinating and horrible.

By January 1792, the guillotine was working at full steam, with a growing - and shrinking- list of the French 1% and members of the royal court. The borders had been closed long before. Those that had waited too long to escape were now trapped and were being hunted down like rats. 

It was the moment, the writer explains, when the history of the scaffold and the history of France combined.