Algeria

Just my initial reaction...

Apparently, Islamists scored some points by their raid and attempted hostage taking at an oil and gas plant in Algeria. One, they produced thirty odd martyrs who are now happily dwelling in the next world. Two, they demonstrated what they were capable of. Three, their profile has significantly increased.

I have been glued to Syrian and Mali situations for the past fortnight, but, what is really annoying is that the civil war in Mali has been ignored by national media here in Japan. Apparently, in Norway, they suffer from a similar lack of interest. Now suddenly, they've learned that their fellow countrymen are woking in the remote desert in Algeria and got entangled in struggle against international terrorism.

Now, as this latest tragedy unfolds, they can no longer keep ignoring the ongoing war in Mali and the fragile security situation in Algeria. Isn't this sort of publicity what Al Qaeda wanted? So long as the media's practice of following big explosions only continues, terrorists will keep trying to produce just such bangs. In other words, the media's selective process and rating-based criteria for what constitute news might be partially responsible for what has happened in some small way.

I don't think the decision by the Algerian government to go in to free the hostages was wrong. After all, this has always been a region beyond the reach of city-based civilization since Roman times. They could simply disappear into the vast desert where we cannot follow. Once the hostages had been moved to hideouts in the desert, it would have been impossible to find them. They would have been held in atrocious condition for many months or even years, only to be killed in the end.

Of course, if they had accepted offers of help from the US, Britain and France, the death toll could have been different ....

Justinian?

Justinian fascinates us. I have recently come across with a reconstruction of his image based on the mosaic in St. Vitale, Ravenna. But doesn't this sort of spoil our image of the great Roman emperor? In the reconstruction, he looks like just average guy from any Balkan country today!

 

Something even more amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XnGgtDzhys

But seriously, given different diet (no one ate potatoes in Roman/Byzantine times presumably), less technologically developed health care and sanitary system of the day, did people really look the same as modern people?

Greco-Roman statues give us an impression that ancient peoples look surprisingly modern and healthy.

But then, just like portraits of actors and actresses can be doctored and idealised, ancient statues, mosaics and paintings depict idealised images of rulers and holy men and women. You never know what they really looked like.

In a way, these paintings are equivalent of modern TV and movies. We can tell what looks are considered pretty perhaps, but don't really have any clue how people really were.

Obviously the reconstruction of Justinian takes the aura away from the original mosaic in St. Vitale in Ravenna. He looks gentle, kind and even weak-willed, compared with the mosaic. Of course the artwork is supposed to be a political statement from a man who was determined to hold the Roman Empire together and even to recover some of the lost territories. You feel strength and confidence, which are totally lacking from the reconstruction. It makes me realise what a masterpiece the St. Vitale mosaic is even more.