Fall Begins 2012 Part 4

The Vikings

The Vikings had a long and interesting history. They are full of controversial and cultural dynamics. They are famous for their long explorations among continents. They explored and settled in Europe, parts of Asia, and the North Atlantic islands from the 700's to the 1000's A.D. They were diverse. The Vikings existed as explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates. They go by many names. They are called Norsemen since most of them came from Scandinavia. The ancient Scandinavians organized large communities with chieftains and maritime warriors (as also traders and plunderers). Tim Osterholm wrote an interesting article entitled, "A History of the Swedish people: Where did the Swedes come from?" It shows DNA evidence, historical information, and other interesting information on ancient Scandinavian history (especially as it pertains to the nation of Sweden). He makes the cases that the Swedes heavily came from the migratory Thracians. Thracians existed from Bulgaria during the days of the ancient Greek golden age of Pericles. The ancient Latin writers and the Greeks called the land of Scandinavia Scandia. They or the Vikings were a critical part of the European medieval historical experience. Their voyages heavily consisted of long ships. Their destinations included places like Constantinople, Russia (along the Volga River), Iceland, Greenland, Al-Andaulus (in Spain), and as far west as Newfoundland. There is much debate on why the Vikings expanded their influence throughout the old world. Professor Rudolf Simek said that: "...it is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne..." In the period of the late 700's, Christianity finally penetrated Scandinavia. This caused conflict and division in Norway for almost a century. The reason is that the Norse believed in polytheistic paganism for the most part, which was religiously anthetical to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. Some feel that the growth of the Norse population outgrown the agricultural potential of their Scandinavian homeland. So, people spread in order to get more resources in other lands. Divisions in Charlemagne's empire and in England cased the Vikings to easily conquer some of the lands in France plus England. Western Europe didn't have a great naval opposition to repel Viking influence. Trade was really low during the late 700's among Europe and Eurasia. The Vikings can and heavily profited from the international trade causing them to expand their traditional boundaries. There are tons of Viking figures in the world. Bagsecg was a Viking who invaded and pillaged in England during the year of 870. he was killed in 871 at the Battle of Ashdown. Cnut the Great was the Viking King of England, Denmark, and Norway (including some of Sweden). He is considered the greatest Viking king. Cnut the Great's father was Sweyn Forkbeard and Cnut was the grandson of Harold Bluetooth. Cnut the Great was a member of the dynasty that was key to the unification and Christianisation of Denmark. He has been called the Emperor of the North, because he possessed huge political power in Medieval Europe (as compared the the Holy Roman Empire in central & southern Europe). A lot of folks already know about William the Conqueror's story. He was a famous Viking. He ruled Normandy (in northwest France) and won the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was a Norman French speaking fifth generation descendant of the Viking war leader named Rollo. Rollo was the first Scandinavian ruler of Normandy. Norman historians like Dudo of St. Quentin still celebrated the old Norse heritage of the ducal dynasty. William's great great uncle was the great Danish king Cnut the Great. The Norman assertion of power in England came after the invasion of 1066. This saw the end of the Anglo-Saxon rule in England. Ironically, the Angles and the Saxons invaded Britain centuries (during the days of the Roman Empire when the UK was filled with Celts and Romans) before William the Conquerer.
 

The Vikings have a long and interesting history even after ca. 1000 A.D. Their ancestors are of course the Indo-European peoples. The Indo-Europeans during the ancient times consisted of nomads, shepherds, worshippers of nature (they love the oak), and those that worshipped numerous pagan gods plus goddess. The Indo-Europeans' languages evolved into modern Italian, English, Spanish, French, and other tongues on the European continent (including the tongue of Sanskrit of India). Now, The Indo-Europeans started to heavily migrate out of the regions of the Caspian Sea (or Southern Steppes of Russia) heavily from ca. 4,000 B.C. There was the Bronze Age in Scandinavia by 1500 B.C. The Bronze age in human history was when most humans in a particular age heavily utilized bronze materials for farming, for defense, for construction, for art, and for other various purposes. The Iron Age grew in Scandinavia by 500 B.C. Many in Scandinavia didn't like the Romans at all. Some of them sacrificed people in bogs. Romans like Tacitus writes about the Germanic peoples in his account called "Germania." There were famous Kings of Denmark during the 9th century like King Harald and King Horik Godfredsson. Many of the Danes in the 9th century organized raids in Moorish Spain and the United Kingdom. They wanted resources and more power for their societal composition. They developed long, advanced ships to spread across vast oceans and to unique territories beyond their homeland of Scandinavia. In 1014 A.D., Ard-Righ Brian Boru defeated the Norse in Ireland at the battle of Clontarf. Both Brian and Jarl Singurdhr of Orkney are slain as well. After 1066, Viking culture continued to grow and increased. Vikings weren't all monolithic. Not all of them were a bunch of imperialists. In ca. 1117-1118 A.D., the first Icelandic law code was first written down called Gragas. In 1122 A.D., Ari Thorgilsson wrote Isleningabok. This book is a key part of early Icelandic literature. Islendingabok or Libellus Islandorum refers to the Book of the Icelanders. It describes the history of Iceland. Ari was an Icelandic priest. The book is divided into 10 chapters. It said that Iceland was settled in the days of Harald I of Norway by immigrants from Norway. The first settler named Ingolfur Arnarson arrived in Reykjavik. Some Irish monks came earlier who were called the Papar. They left, because they didn't want to live with the "pagan" Norsemen. The coast to the mountains of Iceland according to the book is heavily forested. The book said that a man named Ulfjotr gave people in Iceland laws from Norway. It described Iceland's religious conversion to Christianity, settlers like Erik the Red coming into Greenland, and many other aspects of Icelandic history. In the 1200's, Icelandic sages or various stories came about.

The Vikings influenced Russia too. The Vikings were called the "Varangians" in the East. The Vikings ere involved in trade and piracy all over the world. In the mid 800's A.D., the Vikings traveled along waterways from the Eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas. One Varangian named Rurik was the elected ruler or knyaz of Novogorod in ca. 860 A.D. His successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev. Kiev was already ruled by the Khazars before the Varangians came. The Vikings formed the Kievan Rus by Prince Oleg. The Kievan Rus traded in furs, wax, and slaves between Scandinavia and throughout the Byzantine Empire. In the 900's, the Norse minority merged with the majority Slavic population. Prince Vladimir I of 988 adopted the religion of Christianity. His father was of the Rurik dynasty (filled with Vikings). Vladimir was once polytheistic until he heard the message of the Greek Orthodox Church. In the 1200's, people realized that the Mongols (they were an Asian group of people who organized a vast Empire from Mongolia to Eastern Europe during the 1200's A.D.) took over Russia.

Conclusion

With the 2012 election finally over, new challenges and old threats remain. The good news is that a man who pathologically flip flops on various issues and slurs 47 percent of all Americans (which he had no choice, but to apologize about it) is not going to be President of the United States of America. The GOP's massively reactionary rhetoric has been soundly opposed by the majority of Americans. Now, we still have issues. Everything isn't perfect in the world. We still need to battle against civil liberty threats, economic problems, the prison industrial complex, neo-imperialism, and other problems in the world. Regardless of who is elected, we still need to be active in society as a means to not only promote the general welfare, but to adequately care about our fellow human people. We should care to want clear air, clean water, and a modernized, technologically advanced infrastructure that can build up the confines of the world society globally. Social justice doesn't end in 2012. Social justice promotion continues in 2012, 2013, 2014, and beyond. The reactionaries (a lot of them embrace Austrian economics. Not all government regulations are bad. The free market is not God) may lie and have paranoia about the debt (which similar to the McCarthy-like paranoia about Communism), but the truth is that economic justice is superior to austerity. These liars forget that we had a deficit filled with debt for most of American history and our country in that time period didn't experience total economic catastrophe. A strong progressive approach can handle our debt and deficit issues without record, genocidal austerity at all. We should always expose the oligarchs and the international bankers causing corruption and other fiscal issues in the world too. They may lie and dehumanize a person, because of their background, but the truth is that all men are created equal. They may lie and claim to believe in the sanctity of human life, but many of them want war & sanctions which violate the fundamental principle of promoting the real sanctity of human life. Just because I believe in the sanctity of human life personally doesn't mean I will bow before the atlar of the GOP. I bow before God alone. They will lie and focus on unnecessary divisions and tensions, but the fundamental truth is that we are in this together and with courage, strength, and confidence, monumental solutions can be realized in the beautiful globe. That's the truth and that's reality. Now, we have a responsibility too. The government has a responsibility to promote the general welfare of course. Yet, we should have the responsibility to help our communities, to give back to people, to perform charity, to try our best to stop tensions & violence, to respect humanity, and to do our best to make the world a better place via any legitimate means. I will always disagree with the new world order agenda. My mind will continue to accept core convictions and I believe in compassion as well. Justice is about harboring strength and compassion.




 

There has been a lot of promotion of war with Iran recently. One lobbyist wants to launch some staged provocation to begin a war with Iran. This person is a member of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (or WINEP) think tank. He wanted America to to do the following in his own words: "...We are in the game of using covert means against the Iranians..." His name is Patrick Clawson. Clawson is a former senior economist with the IMF and the World Bank. He complains about how the President refuses to execute a war with Iran immediately. He wants the traditional way of getting into war as promoting U.S. interests, which is extreme to say the least. Clawson therefore wants America to stage or provoke an attack in order for it to be the cause of casus belli for a war with Iran. Clawson doesn't just want sanctions, but he wants covert actions against the Iranians. He wants a start to start if the Iranians aren't willing to compromise. Clawson talks about the August 17 incident where powerful cables serving the Fordow Enrichment Plant being severed by an explosion. He used that event as an excuse for him to Iranian submarines could go down and someday one of them might not come up (or a slick remark about using a strike on Iranians ships in order to provoke a response). He talked about many incidents when the U.S. Presidents had to wait for before taking America to war like the Gulf of Tonkin, the Lusitania, the attack on the USS Maine, Pearl Harbor, and the attack on Fort Sumter during Abraham Lincoln's Presidency. All of these events were staged, known about, or used as an excuse to promote a war. The USS Maine was exploded on February 15, 1898. It propelled America to fight against Spain, but it could of been an accident. Propaganda or yellow journalism from William Randolph Hearst caused some Americans to be brainwashed as supporting with the war (in trying to additionally cause some of the American populace to express an irrational hatred of Spain). The sinking of the Lusitania caused America to come into WWI militarily. The ship had a large amounts of munitions and was a legitimate target for German U-Boats. This has been confirmed by a September 2008 diving expedition. Before the ship sailed, the Germans said that the boat had munitions and it would target the Lusitania. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was known about by some in the West. It was utilized as an excuse for America to fight in WWII. There is the McCollum memo. It was written on October 7, 1940. It talked about how America would deal with the Japanese empire, but McCollum never had contact with Roosevelt. According to military historian Conrad Crane, the document wanted to deter and contain Japan while preparing for a future conflict in the Pacific. Freedom of Information Act files confirm that that United States had intercepted Admiral Yamamoto's radio messages sent weeks before December 7, 1941, one of which made it clear that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. The Gulf of Tonkin event didn't involve a second attack by the North Vietnamese. It was cited as a means for which the Vietnam War to take place. Even Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara admitted that the second attack in the Gulf of Tonkin didn't happen. Clawson is wrong to promote some staged incident in order for the West to provoke an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

By Timothy