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Markus Jong

Summer in Vienna is hot and humid. As July, 1683 began, Hapsburg Archduke Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, had retreated to his estate at Perchtoldsdorf to escape the oppressive heat of the city. There, Leopold received disturbing news: the war with the Ottoman Empire had taken an alarming turn. The Austrian Hapsburg army of 30,000 men was in full retreat, unable to halt an Ottoman invasion force numbering 140,000 to 300,000 troops. By July 7, when Leopold returned to Vienna, the Turks were within a few miles of the city. Leopold and the residents of Vienna were forced to flee.

Vienna is situated on the banks of the Danube River where east-west overland trade routes converge. For hundreds of years, trade brought prosperity and gave the city its strategic importance. Culturally, Vienna was hardly a backwater, but the rich artistic and intellectual community the city would become famous for still lay in the future. For its day, it was fairly large, with a population f about 100,000. By the time the Ottoman siege began, only about 15,000 people remained, including 11,000 Hapsburg troops charged with Vienna

Nathan Martyn

Wildlife needs to be protected throughout the world. We need to leave enough of nature to pass along to the next generation. Going to the zoo to observe wildlife has its

Nirjara Rustom

I was recently watching the news about the 26 November 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai. Several terrorists had entered Mumbai, India from the sea route and had attacked the Taj Hotel, Oberoi, Trident and a building called Nariman House at Colaba. My spouse who was also watching with me said

Kurt Hartman

Lately, the news has come in flooding waves for me. The election, bailouts, and endlessly horrible employment news have washed over me, and left a sort of numb feeling in place of my usual optimism. Capitalism seems to have died a death at the hands of worldwide greed, and I am left shaking my head at a growing list of casualties. That’s just the domestic scene. When I take a look at the sprawling, worldwide chaos, the picture becomes even darker.

India is considering a strike against Pakistan. Israel is weighing strikes against both Iran and Syria. The United States faces an impending disaster in Afghanistan, pondering the age old old question “Should I stay or should I go?”. Then, there is the Cold War posturing that Russia has rediscovered of late. They have reinserted themselves into the international conversation once again, in a very aggressive manner.

We are seeing substantial devaluation across currencies worldwide, and some of it is intentional. For instance, the Chinese have devalued the yuan to keep their exports competitive, even as consumption drops in the Western world.The Russian ruble has been dying a slow, agonizing death for months now. Its prospects against the dollar have fallen by 30%, and show no signs of hitting a solid bottom. Iceland is on the verge of anarchy, due to the insolvency of the krona, and the resulting anger at the government’s perceived culpability.

Instability is the only constant worldwide, with the occasional sprinkling of outright implosion. In all this, the cry from the international -and domestic- communities is a global solution. It makes sense, to a certain degree. Ockham’s razor would naturally deem that a problem of global scope should be paired with a solution of the same depth. While I generally have no qualms with the theory. that “All things being equal, the simplest solution is the best”, I believe Mssr.Ockham would think twice before applying his philosophy to international crises.

I can hear some of you who fervently wish for world peace asking “Why? I mean, isn’t it time we put aside our differences, our Nationalism, and our borders? Isn’t now the best time to embrace our fellow man, and weather this crisis as a member of the human race.” That is an admirable sentiment. Let us examine the logistical issues inherent in the adoption of global governance (n

Kristi Ambrose

For the most part when it comes to commemorative coins the United States Congress authorizes commemorative pieces that lionize and honor American individuals, places, events, and institutions. Although these coins are legitimate tender, they are not coined for common circulation instead they are merely coined as “art”. Each commemorative coin is produced by the United States Mint in closed quantity and is only accessible for a specific amount of time. As far as I can tell the World Trade Center coins found underneath the Twin Towers have yet to become a part of the Mint coin program, frankly I don’t really understand why! However, these coins are a part of another program; the PCGS also known as the Professional Coin Grading Service which is the premier Internet site for collectors of coins.

These coins in particular that were found in the vaults can be worth a lot of money (from a few hundred on up to a few thousand), so under advanced security measures the coins were loaded into Brinks Armored vehicles and sent to Collectors Universe a parent company of the well-known Professional Coin Grading Service.

This particular organization is the archetypal company for collectors of coins. Once this organization collected all of the coins they then continued on to catalog, grade and encapsulate in the Professional Coin Grading Service high security tamper resistant capsules along with a specially designed commemorative United States Flag insert that identifies the coins as a genuine artifact. This is how you can actually tell if a coin is legit or not and is produced like this as a part of the grading and collection guide which can be seen on their website.

There are numerous different coins being commemorated for this particular event including the 2000 World Trade Center ground zero recovery gold eagle, silver eagle, and also a few uncirculated 1993 silver eagle gem. To buy these coins you can spend anywhere from $60 on up to $1000+. These coins truly are a piece of our history and it’s definitely a part, if you could choose any part, that you should have in your collections!

It doesn’t matter if your a master at collecting these types of coins or materials or if you are just starting out, or if you are going to hold on to these for personal reasons or sell these for some cold hard cash, this is a noteworthy part of history that you can take possession over starting right this very moment. I have known of quite a few people that have inducted these coins in to their own little collection because they had a loved one or knew someone in the World Trade Center bombings, so something like this means a lot to them not only for personal reasons but for remembrance of loved ones lost. These coins are anything but gaudy, in fact they are simply amazing to even glance at in image view. I can only imagine what they really look like in person! If you think you would be interested in something like this, check it out the next time your online. I think you will be really surprised by the craftsmanship of these coins! Absolutely stunning!

This author is a HUGE fan of WTC Gold

Helena P. Schrader

She was not born a countess. On the contrary she came from solid bourgeois stock. One of six children, Marion was never spoiled, but the family believed in a good education for girls no less than boys. So she was sent to the most progressive and only co-educational school in Berlin, where she was in the same class as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and

Helena P. Schrader

Philipp Baron von Boeselager made no claim to be a hero

Helena P. Schrader

Shane Dolby

There is only one planet for us and we live in it. But due to modernization, the environment has suffered and most inhabitants of this planet just shrugged their shoulder for a time. Now, that the planet is complaining through so many natural ways and tragedies, nobody can just shrug a shoulder anymore. Everyone needs to contribute to make things better - to start reducing the pollution that’s killing this planet.

Individual efforts in many simple ways can help save this planet. Developing a concern for nature and doing something to conserve and preserve it could help but a concerted effort from these awakened individuals would create a much bigger impact for the cause.

Yes, this is a global concern. Yes, this is a concern for every country. Most definitely, it is a concern of each person in the city or town. Everyone should start becoming aware of the consequences of modernization. There really is nothing wrong with wanting to advance but from hereon, there should be great consideration on whether the whole planet will be affected yet again.

Advances in technology and advances in the way we live are great achievements to boast about. It would be best if these technologies that make our lives so much easier and convenient would also make it easier for the entire planet.

Pollution is a very big concern for everyone. Air, water, and noise pollutions are byproducts of modernization because humans have simply overlooked the environment for so long a time. Again, there is nothing wrong in wanting to advance to the next level - but we owe it to the planet to consider its needs as well.

Now that so many groups and individuals (even businesses) have started to go green and to think green, it may not really be too late for this planet. Every citizen of every country who makes the effort to build a concern for his environment matters a lot. Each family should raise the awareness among the children about the effects of pollution to the environment and these kids should be taught to care for the planet too.

The next generations of children, after all, are the ones who will suffer the consequences if nobody will start to do something today. Little ways of introducing the bad effects of pollution can help make these kids aware of their surroundings.

The awareness campaigns should continue from the home to the community. Many adults are still not aware and many still do not care. People abuse nature here and there. Factories that make a lot of consumer products disregard the pollution they cause just to profit. Money has continuously become the driving factor and it has become the priority of almost everyone.

Governments have projects that would need a lot of cooperation from every citizen. There are socio-civic groups in every community that also do what they can to help save the planet. If every individual will do his share even in his own little ways and each one will tag along somebody, soon a much larger group will have grown to purposely save this only planet that we have.

Want to lower pollution? Get your FREE E-Course for simple steps you can take to help reduce pollution at http://helptheecosystem.com/

Coddie Adwar

Before the September 11 attacks, Washington’s Neo-cons had waited in frustrated hope for an event that would serve as the excuse needed to enable them to rouse public support for a war against Iraq and other “rogue states” where they were sure American power could easily dispatch. Their project for the New American century proposed to remake the oil-rich-Middle-East in America’s image. Vice President Dick Cheney was also dreaming to restore the imperial presidency that had been lost with Richard Nixon’s Watergate.

In 1999, when George W. Bush was considering for the Presidency, he contracted with Houston Journalist Micky Herskowitz for a ghost-written autobiography. No more than two months passed before Bush’s team of advisors dismissed Herskowitz. The gregarious governor was telling Mickey too much. What’s interesting about the Russ Baker interview with Mickey Herskowitz is the reasons Bush gave for wanting to attack a small country: he wanted to emerge from his father’s shadow and become more popular.

From a strategic point of view the most effective way to fight terrorism is by intelligence operations and police work. However, for all the above reasons, militarizing the fight into a perpetual state of “war” would most easily facilitate the expansion of presidential powers.

On the other side of the world, the extremist Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were also making their plans. The people and government of Muslim nations from Algeria and Egypt, to Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, wanted to run the extremists out of their country, because they were inflicting violence to those they considered “not Muslim enough”. In Algeria the radicals had began eliminating each other over perceptions that many of their own members were not “pure enough”. For these reasons extremist Osama bin Laden had been chased from Saudi Arabia to the Sudan and then back to the caves of Afghanistan. Even in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar, concerned for the well-being of his Taliban government, had ordered bin Laden to quit giving interviews to the western press declaring jihad against Israel and the U.S.A.

Rudyard Kipling had described “Afghanistan” as the “place where empires go to die“. Bin Laden knew that, and believing that Israel and its supporter, the United States, were instruments of oppression for the muslin people, was looking for an opportunity to drag the United States into a long and costly war similar to that they had engaged the Soviet Union in the 1980s. They hoped to slowly wear Americans down as they had already succeeded with the Soviet forces. Their goal was to provoke such a heavy military response from the Americans that would offend the Muslin world, destabilize the region, and increase the oil prices (which were cheap through the previous two decades) bringing further damage to the American economy while the Middle East was prospering.

Of course Bin Laden was taking the risk that Americans would strike and destroy al-Qaeda in a way it would not alienate U.S. from the rest of the Muslims. But that did not happen. The Bush administration was not focusing its attention on bin-Laden, because they were planning to attack Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Instead of using U.S. troops to seal the border, President Bush relied on hired Pakistanis, who were receiving money also from Al-Qaeda! In the battle of Tora Bora the local “allies” who had mixed sympathies towards al-Qaeda, let many of them escape