This Jerusalem Post article, “Analysis: Syria – Is it on the threshold of a civil war?”, illustrates just the point I was making in a previous post about the false difference between the state violence of Israel and that of its neighbours. So enticing is this thinking that it leads to whoppers of analytical inshite on the recent events in Syria such as this:
“Military theorists today are divided regarding the role of the main battle tank in the battlefield of the future. Assad over the past 48 hours has demonstrated that whatever the outcome of this debate, the role of the tank as an instrument of war against civilians remains highly relevant in the Middle East.”
As if Ariel Sharon’s Operation Cast Lead and every other Israeli operation against recalcitrant residents of Palestine opposed to the exclusivist policies of the Israeli state didn’t rely on the tank. Indeed, the Merkava tank was once seen as the pride of Israeli military might. Plus, they moved on: Fighter jets became part of the canon of Israeli domestic policy during the Second Intifada.
Namexiaoying
Few watch aficionados realize that the Japanese brand seiko watch has a history as old as many of its Swiss rivals. Founded in the 1880s, the company began manufacturing wrist seiko watches after World War I and quickly became an innovative leader, developing one of the world’s first seiko automatic and seiko chronograph. But perhaps Seiko’s greatest achievement came about in its race with the American brand Bulova to harness new technology, leading to the quartz watch, which revolutionized the industry and nearly drove the Swiss out of business.
More innovations followed, including the first computer wristwatch, in 1984, and the first nonbattery seiko kinetic watch. To this list we can now add another groundbreaker: the Seiko Spring Drive mechanical movement, which is accurate to one second per day, making it approximately three times more precise than the average mechanical watch. The Spring Drive also provides an enduring seventy-two hours of power reserve (most watches offer about forty) and winds 30 percent faster than a conventional movement.
According to seiko uk, twenty-eight years of work went into developing this movement, and only five of the company’s hundreds of watchmakers possess the requisite skills to assemble it. Regardless of its technological history, the seiko 5 is a skillfully designed watch, with graceful hands and interesting use of off-center dials.