Hans J. Morgenthau - The Purpose Of American Polities

The United States of America may be an encompassing and world superpower, but they are certainly not respected like they wish they were throughout the world and their presence and image within many countries have been shattered basically since events like the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan. Take a relatively Muslim country like Indonesia, now the popular opinion of the U.S.A. has plummeted in the years 2003 and 2004. These findings are displayed in the book Taming American Power by Stephen M. Walt. There has also been a plummeting of favourable opinion throughout many Arab and Muslim nations since the War on Terror, including Turkey, Morroco and Palestine. In order to fight the War on Terror, there should be greater interest in creating a healthy image, not one that should be despised by many would-be terrorists. Having a bad image internationally has not been very kind to the U.S.A.

Edwin Moore - Scotland: 1001 Things You Need To Know

William Wallace will forever be known throughout history as either a criminal or a hero and he embodies the saying that ''One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.'' He was made Guardian of Scotland and there is a monolithic tower to his memory in Stirling called Wallace Monument, but when he graced this world he was seen as a criminal by the English. One only has to see his death at the hands of the English, where he was hung, drawn and quartered. He actually had his guts burnt on hot coals whilst he was still alive, but even Wallace himself could match such atrocities, as it was he who decapitated Hugh de Cressingham from his horse and made his skin into a baldric (which is a sword belt) and sword handle. There is no conflict on Earth which garners so much ferocity from both sides, fierce competitiveness known far and wide throughout the world. The bizarre thing is both the English Normans and Wallace were of the same ethnicity (Norman) it really showcases what war can bring out of citizens of rival states.

Stephen M. Walt - Revolution And War

Neorealism is structured into two spheres. One is the concept that states act defensively, and the other is that states run offensively. Kenneth Waltz theorises that states operate defensively basically because, at his time in the mid-twentieth century, the world was in the Cold War, so states were precariously creating armies in this standoff against each other, with both sides, the Soviets and the United States of America, were both in this arm wrestle to outdo each other, so there was a defensive stalemate. John Mearsheimer theorised that states act offensively, and his writings are much more current day and he writes critiques on neo-liberalism particularly critiques of the U.S.A. because of them acting very aggressively in the last seventy or so years, seeking to exert their influence in many conflicts and gain alliances in every sphere of the world in an attempt at world domination.

James MacPherson - The Poems Of Ossian

The Highlands is a very hard place to control militarily, and the Highlanders used this to their advantage. The would situate the battle to take place on hills, so they would charge down the hill and engage with the enemy. It was called the ''highland charge'' and proved to be very effective. Culloden actually took place on flat marshy land, so the Jacobites could not use this, coupled with the fact that the order to charge came late because of the messenger being shot by a cannon. In order to control a mountainous people and a mountainous area, the inhabitants would seek to use local men, like the Black Watch, and their know-how of controlling the people and the land was basically all that the government could do. The Roman Empire could not conquer such a mountainous region, so no one could. This is perhaps why generals like Napoleon were so successful throughout Europe, as were the Highlanders fighting later for the British, as Napoleon was from Corsica, a very rugged and mountainous island. He knew how to fight in the mountains. Without such expertise and knowledge of the hilly countryside, a general does not know how to fight in the mountains.

Stephen M. Walt - Taming American Power: The Global Response To U.S. Primacy

Classical realism and neorealism can be identified as first of all being a reaction against fascism (Machiavelli suffering greatly at the hands of violent politics, himself being tortured and driven into exile) and a reaction against greed in Hobbe's writing who distinctly wrote on self-preservation and selfishness, which aligns greatly with capitalism. The realists believe in the communal aspect of a state, and neorealists believe that politicians are basically at fault, not the people who are led by these tyrants (John Mearsheimer's work Why Leaders Lie being a terrific example) and von Clausewitz really cemented this belief as he was never a politician but was ordered by politicians, therefore carrying out orders of war and learning the hard way politics can be thwarted with violence. Many neorealists have published scathing works on American primacy, which you can see on a daily basis results in suffering and carnage. The U.S.A also is the sole leading contributor to climate change.

Nigel Tranter - The Queen's Grace

Of course, the Roman Empire never conquered Ireland nor did they conquer Scotland. They fought a battle at Mons Graupius (Which no one to this day knows where exactly it took place.) After being raided en mass, with thousands of casualties due to guerilla raids by the Caledonians they retreated and made Hadrians' Wall and there were still terrifying night raids that took place. Look at any nation in the world and you will not find one where the original inhabitants of the state remain unconquered. The Jacobites formed an army the same size used at Culloden just weeks after the battle. There were reports of mutiny in the Highland ranks of the British military, explored in the book Mutiny by John Prebble. The very things that were nearly eradicated from this planet, including Highland Dress and Scottish Gaelic, still exist. The British Empire had to construct Fort George near Inverness to control the Highlands and create their supreme military unit The Black Watch to control the area. Scotland still has its own bank and government, and who knows maybe in the future will one day be its own fully-fledged state.

A Celtic Miscellany

There is a sacred text in the history of the Gaels that no-one knows who actually wrote, it is called the Lebor Gabala Erenn. The stories that are told in this book are magical, not only is there the story of Goidel Glas the creator of the Goidelic languages but the story takes the wonderful journey of the Gaels up through the Mediterranean, where they stop in Malta and Sicily. This is not completely farcical, as the ancient Phoenicians travelled throughout the Mediterranean. There is linguistic similarities with Gaelic and Maltese explored in the book Scots: A Genetic Journey by Alistair Moffat and James F. Wilson. After Malta, they sail to Spain and spend time there. Mil was one of the Gaels and there is a second Scota who is also a daughter of a Pharoah, along with the other Scota who marries Nel, son of Fenius Farsaid. After settling in Spain, they become the sons of Mil, the Milesians and they view Ireland from a telescope and sail to it. There were some Greek historians like Strabo who was based in Spain who can back up that there was movement between Spain and Ireland of Celts.

Nigel Tranter - The Wallace

The movie Braveheart had many untrue moments. First of all the kilts, they were wearing in the film did not come to much later, about the 1500s. Then, of course, Scotland had much better equipment that is portrayed. Some remarkable facts about Wallace and Bruce were that Wallace stayed in the Vatican to train as a knight. Bruce also fought in the crusades before his military campaigns really started. There was a man who aided Wallace early on in his campaign against the English was Andrew Moray. He was directly responsible with Wallace for leading the uprising. Moray is not featured in the famous film, and the really remarkable thing is that Moray was going to become Guardian of Scotland, but was killed at Stirling Bridge, so Wallace was given this title after the miraculous outcome of a battle strategy that was the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Essential Gaelic Dictionary

Surprisingly this dictionary has the word for an Egyptian. The Gaelic word is Eipheiteach for males and ban-Eipheiteach for females. This is no bizarre anomaly, Egyptians play a very vital role in the history of the Gaels because the ancestor of the Gaels, Goidel Glas, was half Egyptian and half Scythian. His mother was Scota, daughter of a Pharaoh, and his father was Nel, son of Fenius Farsaid, a Scythian king who was related to Noah. This was a claim by the Scots for a Scottish pope, as they claimed they were ancestors of Noah, therefore directly related to God himself. If you don't believe this, the Irish Gaels traded a lot of with this part of the world because Lapis Lazuli is found as paint on many of their books. You cannot create blue without Lapis Lazuli stone, it is all throughout the Book of Kells a famous book from Ireland.

Robert Burns - Selected By Don Paterson

It will come as a shock to many that Robert Burns accepted a job in the Carribean, but he never went. Scotland although having one-tenth of the population, probably made up one-third of the British attempts to abolish slavery, but although this is true it is under much speculation of how much Scotland did have an impact. Of course, Scotland, or Scots, not the nation but the people were responsible for many conservative movements, you only have to see the amount of Scots fighting for the Confederacy or in Australia where Lachlan Macquarie was the governor of New South Wales and responsible for many atrocities against the indigenous people of Australia. Lachlan Macquarie was from a tiny island of Ulva. James Scobie the man whose death kicked off the Eureka Stockade was in fact Scottish.