Ian Rankin - Exit Music

If the Jacobite rebellion was not about religion, then why did the Catholic Church basically abandon the plight of the Stuarts? With all their muscle and wealth they could not even muster barely a handfull of ships with basic weaponry in aid to the Stuart cause. And then, of course, the reparations of the highland massacres. Where was the Catholic Church then? There is absolutely no justice. To think that people so beautiful, with their songs and dancing and culture, were massacred and taken out of their homes and murdered, really puts it in perspective of the great evil that was lurking in the people of the day. The great evil being British colonialism, responsible for millions and millions of atrocities worldwide for hundreds of years, spreading torture, disease, and slavery. One wonders if there will be ever any justice when it comes to the plight of the highlanders.

Stephen M. Walt - American Primacy: Its Prospects And Pitfalls

In a Hobbsian lens which is a massive influence on neorealism as we now know it, which attributes that the state of nature of mankind is essentially violent and warlike. It is in the state that mediates violence and it is the state which brings about peace, not man. Without a mediation of violence, there would be no peace. Of course, many states will band together in a natural sort of means where they follow the bigger states. There cannot possibly be one global state because of mankind sees differences rather than similarities because there is the aspect of racism in International Relations. There will be prejudice and hate committed towards people who have committed no crime but the only thing they have ever done is being born different, hence why the world above the state in world order is anarchical.

Edmund Burt - Burt's Letters From The North Of Scotland

The Picts are depicted in various Victorian paintings as ''noble savages'' but this is a mistake. What is known is not very much but the main points to learn are the facts given to us by a premier historian known as Venerable Bede. The Picts were seafarers who painted themselves in blue woad as a battle tactic to intimidate their opponents. They wore clothes because on the Aberlemno stone they are depicted as fighting against the Angle-Saxons, and they are fully clothed. They used advanced weaponry. They painted their giant standing stones that litter the countryside of Scotland. Highland dancing is previously Pictish. The Picts had many mythical animals and a rich history of storytelling. They used Ogham on many of their stones and were a form of animism for many years before finally converting to Christianity, where their stones started to change to symbols from the Bible and crosses.

Stephen M. Walt - The Origins Of Alliances

The War on Terror invites some great interest from a Hobbesian lens of sorts. First of all, it has nothing to do with Islam, terrorists have hijacked the religion for their own means. Because there is no Muslim pope, there is no higher respected figure who can condemn such actions of terrorism, like what the Catholic pope did to the I.R.A. In a Hobbesian lens, there is a state of nature, which is the violent state, the state of the terrorist. The terrorist commits atrocities towards innocent people, indiscriminate violence, and violence towards the people in a Hobbes lens is violence towards the state, because of his famous quote ''the state of nature is the state of nations.'' There are states waging war on the greatest enemy to the state, which is stateless people. Because a terrorist has no diplomats they cannot reason also. Wherever there's a state and indiscriminate violence towards people there will likely be a war.

Iain Zaczek And Charles Phillips - The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Tartan

Wearing highland dress was banned after Culloden, but it was the visit of George IV to Scotland that sparked massive interest in the romanticised image of tartan and highland dress as we now know it. George IV was the king of Britain and related to the Stuarts, and decided to visit the north of the kingdom. Sir Walter Scott organised a kilt to be made for the king and who came forth but two people claiming to be relatives of the Stuarts, and they called themselves the Sobieski Stuarts (they were just two brothers by the name of John and Charles Allen) but they claimed to have a book written by Charles Edward Stuart detailing all the specific tartans to each clan. They were lying because they were not relatives of the Stuarts. Sir Walter Scott organised this trip to Scotland and could be seen as not only reinforcing highland romanticism which he borrowed a lot from Robert Burns but Scott single handedly brought back highland dress from the ashes and tartan as we know it is all thanks to Sir Walter Scott.

Barry R. Posen - Inadvertent Escalation

The War on Terror is thwarted with ineptitude. First of all, the United States of America fought non-state actors. Machiavelli would be rolling around in a fit of laughter, as the question arises if they are not a state how in fact are they a real and serious threat? Because only states can pose threats, so why would one bother engaging something that was not a state. War is seen as a last resort and nothing more. If a state's leader disagrees with another state's leader, they settle it like men and come to a decision. War is only an absolute last resort. The wars in the Middle East were mainly consisting of a lot of irregular like warfare, and fighting conventional warfare is never going to work because of defensive guerilla armies being able to choose when and where they want to fight, tiring down an opponent who is pouring literally massive amount of time and effort into the conflict. The common terrorist does not dress in the attire seen on the battlefields in von Clausewitz's time, which would have been bright and colourful outfits. The common terrorist wears normal attire akin to the common citizen, so it is easy to accidentally kill innocent people, which should never in fact happen.

Sir Walter Scott - Quentin Durward

Of course, the Scotti have not ruled Scotland for nearly a thousand years. The rulers predominately have been Norman ethnically over the last thousand or so years. Scotland is a mix of the original inhabitants called the Picts; the Scotti who were on the western coast; the Britons in Strathclyde which is modern-day Glasgow; Bernicia ruled by the Angle-Saxons which is modern-day Edinburgh; then later there were the Norse and then the Normans. Sassenach is the Scots Gaelic word for Englishman and the word is derived from the original word Saxon, which itself is derived from Saxony. The Angle-Saxons were only mercenaries for the Roman Empire from Germany who inherited the Roman lands when the Roman Empire started to decline.

Stephen M. Walt - The Hell Of Good Intentions

The United States of America could arguably be a failed state. For a nation that cannot look after its own people with public healthcare and support for the disadvantaged, then what purpose do they serve? A state must look after its most vulnerable, and no welfare and a solid condoning of capital punishment is not looking after the citizen's best interest. The greatest concept to teach others is the fact that they have rights, and these rights should be protected by the state. If a citizen was to fall unwell or to perhaps be wrongfully imprisoned, then the state must protect them. The United States of America is not a state but an absolute ''free for all''. The purpose of a state is to protect its most vulnerable, and that is the citizens who pay the taxes in order to keep the state strong, without its people basically keeping the state running, a state becomes failed.

Edward Goodwillie - The World's Memorials Of Robert Burns

Robert Burns was voted the greatest ever Scot in a poll and will remain a strong influence on the English language, as well as the Scots language. Basically, with the Scottish Enlightenment, there were massive advances in economics, philosophy and sociology among other things. The peculiar thing about Edinburgh the city is that it sits on an ancient glacier, the castle sits upon the stone that was in the middle of this glacier, and the city sits around this area. You only have to immerse yourself in the city streets to really grasp the raw power that was the inspiration for the minds of the day. There are plenty of pubs in Edinburgh where there must have been many stories told and ideas exchanged, it is not as Gothic as Glasgow I think, but you can see where the inspiration for the minds that were at work in the city.