Session 1 - Introduction - September 3, 2008

Here are some videos shown during the first session of EDS II: Conflict and Peace under Prof. Nathan Quimpo, University of Tsukuba for the 2nd tri-semester 2008.


-Benjamin, TA for EDS II

01. Georgia and Russia - CNN

CNN's Matthew Chance reports on the latest violence between Russia and Georgia. August 9, 2008.


02. Sri Lanka - BBC

Sri Lanka's government says it is winning the fight against Tamil Tigers rebels, after 25 years of conflict.
Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said to foreign journalists in Colombo on June 30 that security forces have inflicted heavy losses on Tamil Tigers and the militant outfit's capability to wage a conventional war will be wiped out within a year.
"LTTE has lost its conventional capability and they no further fight as a conventional army," said the Army Commander.
Since July last year, security forces are trying to demolish the de facto state of the LTTE in north, said the Army Commander.

You may also visit a related website/blog at
http://srilankandiasporablog.wordpress.com


03. Clash of Civilizations

Video featuring a lecture on the historical background of the so called "Clash of Civilizations".


04. War in Iraq- BBC
Video highlighting the 4000 dead US soldiers in the Iraq Conflict. March 24, 2008 from BBC World.


05. War in Afghanistan - Center for American Progress
Six years after the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power and destroy Al Qaeda's safe haven, Afghanistan faces a growing insurgency that directly threatens its stability and the national security interests of the United States and its allies.

The United States and the international community initially made great strides to oust the Taliban and Al Qaeda and stand up the Afghan government following the invasion in October 2001, but the situation has dramatically deteriorated since 2005. The Taliban and Al Qaeda have regrouped in the borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan and are supporting the Afghan insurgency while strengthening their own capabilities. Although the current administration has portrayed Iraq as the central front of the "global war on terror," Afghanistan and the borderlands of Pakistan remain the central battlefield.

You may visit their website and download a full copy of their report called "The Forgotten Front" at this link.


06. Resource War - Blood Diamond

Wikipedia defines Blood Diamond (also called a converted diamond, conflict diamond, hot diamond or a war diamond) as a diamond mined in a war zone and sold, in order to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or supporting a warlord's activity.

This trailer from the 2006 film of Blood Diamond is an example of the relation between precious natural resources and conflict situations.


07. Ethnic Conflict - Hotel Rwanda
Trailer from the film Hotel Rwanda, based from the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.


08. War and Women: Dzidza and the Red Cross

From the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) comes this video which they tells the stroy of Dzidza, searching for her husband and sons, still missing long after the war is over.

Eleven women tell their own individual stories of how their lives have been affected by war. Coping with displacement, physical and sexual violence, missing relatives, widowhood, detention... challenges and difficulties that these and thousands of other women must face in their daily lives.
ICRC, 2001.

You may view the video at this link.