Islamic Fundamentalism and Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses”

Salman Rushdie’s book, entitled The Satanic Verses is a contemporary fiction on the life of Indian-born personalities from the Muslim community in England. It includes also reflections on events of early Islam, that have allegedly occurred during the life and mission of Prophet Muhammad. The most important event is connected with the so-called Satanic verses, which were said to be part of the Quranic sura An-Najm (LIII, 19–20): “Have you seen Lat, and Uzza And another, the third [goddess], Manat? they are highly flying swans, Their mediation [between God and man] is desirable”. The last two verses are called in Islamic tradition “satanic”, because they imply Muhammad’s acceptance of polytheism due to some political calculations. Therefore their authenticity is rejected by most interpreters. This as well as many other considerations connected with the mentioned book and author induced the so-called Islamic fundamentalists (together with many Muslims) to describe the book as blasphemous. The article is an attempt to present Salman Rushdie’s book and its dimensions for Islamic traditional thought – against the background of documented disputes, in addition to the background of the question of the dialogue of civilisations.

W artykule przedstawiona została ewolucja poglądów elity naukowo-politycznej USA wobec problemu zwalczania terroryzmu i ekstremizmu na początku XXI w.: od „siłowych rozwiązań” H. Kissingera i Z. Brzezińskiego do „miękkiej polityki” administracji B. Obamy. Prześledzono mechanizm walki z terroryzmem i ekstremizmem na poziomie instytucjonalnym w USA. Analizie poddano strategie bezpieczeństwa narodowego USA z 2002 i 2006 r. oraz podkreślono zadeklarowane instrumenty polityki antyterrorystycznej.

Eastern policy in the conceptions of the Liberal Democratic Congress

The Kongres Liberalno-Demorkatyczny functioned on Polish political scene in years 1990–1994. In its program it referred to the free market, liberalism and secularism of the state. The leaders of the party were: Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Janusz Lewandowski and Donald Tusk. In 1994 Kongres merged with Unia Demokratyczna and Unia Wolności was established. The eastern policy in the program of the Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny was located on the second place, because the party focused mainly on European integration. The party was in favour of the independence of the former Soviet Republic, preserving good relations with the Soviet Union. The Kongres didn’t refer to historical geopolitical conception. The party supported the independence of Ukraine, the existence of which was important for the security of Poland and the central and Eastern Europe.

The type of political leadership in the Kurdish community as an example of Masud Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region

For the Kurds, 45-million population, Barzani name is associated with the legendary, full of charisma figure Mustafa Barzani, the deceased Masud Barzani’s father, the current president of the Kurdistan Region. After the death of Mustafa, Masud took over the leadership of established by his father the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and continues his policy. With the right education, which he gained from his family home, in an atmosphere of high politics and installing from an early age the idea of sacrificing for their own nation, Masud, like his father, became a man, who is recognized and respected by Kurdish community. Although a state called Kurdistan does not exist on the map of the world and the Kurdistan Region, is only a small part of the ethnic Kurdistan in northern Iraq, Masud succefoed in creating a far-reaching autonomy for the Kurds, as well as making this region one of the most important part in the area of Middle East. He is regarded by the world’s major politicians as the president of the independent state, although in fact he barely represents the autonomous region. He was born in a system of clan divisions, lived in the mountains, and grew up into a politician of a great stature.

Preliminary analysis of symptoms of integration and disintegration of Europe and the European Union

Since the creation of the European Economic Community in 1957, founded by France, Italy, Germany and the countries of Benelux, the present-day European Union has gone through various changing fortunes, from spectacular triumphs and growing number of members to moments of crisis. Integration crises were of different nature, starting with differences of interests during elimination of trade restrictions between members of the new international organization which had to be covered by common regulations, in order to create common institutions protecting interests of the union from countries outside the organization. Another issues are: different ways of seeing the world, sizes of economy, historical experience and many other factors which always constitute some kind of barriers. Also important are migration movements, respective expectations of social security, problems of integration and cultural assimilation, as well as religious tolerance. One cannot forget about the feeling of collective European integration which is systematically examined, and the results are forwarded to politicians, which influences the methods and directions of their actions in this scope.

A short history of Iranian economy in XX centuries

There are five main political and economical events in Iran history and five people who made history.First of all there is time of first iranian constitution and discover and exploration oil in Iran. Iran signed the agreement with British businessman and british government on exploration Iranian oil.It was not good deal for iranian economy.Second is time of Reza Khan who wanted changed Iran country in to modern, secular republic on the based of Ataturk Turkey.Third is time of nationalisation and prime minister Mossadeq who was the hero of Iranian nation. He wanted establish secular, national democratic republic based on independed expolartion Iranian oil and build reach , independent country.Next was time of Reza Pahlavi, who started to rural reform called White Revolution was depended on British and USA support and loans.Economy based on oil and foreign adviser step by step declined.The last period on Iranian political and economic history is Green Revolution and born Islamic Republic of Iran.In spite of dynamic development of Iranian population and schools economy is still in regress because of sanction , state protecion a lot of sectors, war with Iraq and still feudal structure of Iran economy.There is rentier economy in Iran but still with chance based on natural sources like oil and gas.

Azerbejdżan jest położony w bardzo malowniczej, a jednocześnie potencjalnie burzliwej części świata, w której umyślnie bądź nieumyślnie kolidują interesy silnych państw. Od czasu uzyskania niepodległości Azerbejdżan przeszedł długą i trudną podróż. Ktoś, kto mógłby odwiedzić ten kraj, obecnie nie uwierzyłby, że zaledwie 20 lat temu trwała w nim wojna, z największą liczbą uchodźców na głowę mieszkańca na świecie, i że większość populacji żyła poniżej granicy ubóstwa. W niniejszym artykule opisano tę trudną podróż, w szczególności skupiając się na strategii energetycznej i jej wpływie na rozwój kraju i polityki zagranicznej. Autor omawia również dynamikę regionalną z punktu widzenia międzynarodowego stosunków, jak również z punktu widzenia przemysłu energetycznego.

Marriage settlements in Polish and Russian law – comparative analysis

The aim of the following paper is to present the institution of the prenuptial and postnuptial marriage contracts in Polish and Russian law. The Author tries to point out the similarities and differences of both legal systems. In Poland these regimes are regulated in one act – Family and Guardianship Code, in Russia are partly regulated in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and more widely in the Family Code of the Russian Federation. In both systems legislator admits the contractual property regimes, opposite the statutory property regime. The Author focus on pointing out such issues as conclusion of the marriage contract, its content and the limitations of freedom of concluding the marriage contracts.

The People’s Courts in the System of “Native” Government in Tsarist Turkestan (According to Archival, Legal and Other Materials)

There were considered the status and role of „native” judicial power in the system of common local self-government bodies among the nomadic population in the pre-revolutionary Central Asia.

International scientific cooperation Lviv Polytechnic Institute (60–80-ies of XX century)

The paper describes the main forms of maintaining business contacts with LPI countries in the world in the 60–80s of the twentieth century. A characteristic feature of the institute during this period was the expansion of its international relations in the field as an academic education and research activities with related universities of the Soviet bloc. In particular the study highlights some aspects of international travel of LPI scientists, universities research and commissioning, that spryly emerge with new directions in their research activities. Higher education academic staff traveled abroad to deliver lectures, share experiences and consult LPI specialists from other countries.

Main types of document-information provision Galician-Ukrainian army during the Polish-Ukrainian War

The author of the article considers the main way sand methods of document-information provision of Ukrainian Galician Army. Analyzed the basicorders and instructions of higher authorities of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic,presented a brief description of the main pressing edition „Ukrajnskij golos”, „Republika”, „Ukrainskij prapor”, „Zolochivske slovo”, „Pokutskyj vistnyk”, „Vistnyk DSVS”. The article presents the main directions of development of telephone, telegraph and radio.

On the construction of conceptual system of etnolinguodidactics

This article attempts to locate ethnolinguistic didactic theory against the contemporary problems of language learning in multi-ethnic societies. The authors discussed the main features of multilingual education, with special attention to the important category of linguistic identity and its importance in the process of acquiring the skills needed to make good contacts with the representatives of other cultures.

Obecny świat charakteryzuje globalny kryzys, upadek morale i środowiska naturalnego. Kwestie tolerancji są bardzo sporne. Tolerancja polega na chęci komunikacji i umiejętności nawiązywania kontaktów z osobami, które pod niektórymi względami różnią się od większości. Zapewnienie tolerancyjnych relacji jest uważane w prawie jako ochrona wartości społecznych, wolności i bezpieczeństwa jednostki. Humanistyczne ideały tej koncepcji często są powiązane z wykształceniem. Tolerancja według socjologów jest normą cywilizowanego kompromisu między konkurencyjnymi kulturami. Według definicji podanej w deklaracji zasad dotyczących tolerancji, „tolerancja” oznacza „szacunek, akceptację i prawidłowe zrozumienie dla wielkiej różnorodności kultur na świecie, naszych form wyrazu i sposobów bycia człowiekiem”. Definicja ta zakłada tolerancję dla innych ludzi bez względu na narodowość, rasę, kolor skóry, język, religię, miejsce zamieszkania. Tolerancja w stosunku do ludzi, którzy różnią się od nas przekonaniami i nawykami, wymaga zrozumienia, iż prawda nie może być prosta, gdyż ma wiele twarzy. Warto wskazać, że „w Azerbejdżanie tolerancja nie jest definicją naukową, Azerowie żyją tolerancją”. Dowodem tego jest fakt, że w Azerbejdżanie tolerancja etniczna i religijna znajduje swoje odzwierciedlenie w funkcjonowaniu wszystkich wyznań religijnych: islamu, chrześcijaństwa, judaizmu itp. W Baku działa ponad 20 różnych wspólnot kulturowych: polska, tacka, tatarska, niemiecka, bułgarska, ukraińska, grecka i inne.

Internal and external conflicts in Taiwanese trilogy by Ang Lee

Article is devoted to the analysis of the theme of conflict in the first three films by Ang Lee, which make up the trilogy Father knows best. Author examines how conflicts are expressed in films Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and Eat, drink, man, woman. Author refers to the biography of the director and marks important fact that Ang Lee recognizes experiences of his youth – especially the difficult relationship with his own father – the driving force of his work. It is considered therefore that impressively diverse films – stylistically, thematically and typically – have common themes, which – originated in the trilogy – find their development in later films. Author analyzes the assumptions of Confucianism and Toaism contained in the trilogy and examines the duality of Chinese personality, based on the foundation of ethnic-family, ethnocentrism, respect for authority, the division of gender roles, emotional control and conservative foundations, that Ang Lee contests and deploys in new, multicultural and global environments. Consequently author examines the issue of collision between the Eastern and Western perspectives, conflict of generations and the conflict as carrier of change. The conclusion is that the trilogy presents different variants of catharsis, which will penetrate into the later Ang Lee’s films.

The School Team of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in Poland, Gdynia, August 6th–10th, 2013

Report from the Scientific Conference “Terminal LNG w Świnoujściu a bezpieczeństwo energetyczne regionu i Polski” [Świnoujście LNG Terminal and the Energy Security of the Region and Poland], Szczecin, November 13th–14th, 2013

Jerzy Zdanowski, “Slavery and Manumission. British policy in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf in the first half of the 20th century”

Krzysztof Kozłowski, “Polityka naftowa Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej” [Oil Policy of the People’s Republic of China]

Marcin Wiatrak, “Ideologia kultu samurajskiego miecza. Zarys obrazu w kulturze i społeczeństwie dawnej Japonii” [The Ideology of the Samurai Sword Cult. The Outline of the View in Culture and Society of the Ancient Japan]

“Żołnierze z Pomorza Zachodniego w komisjach rozjemczych i misjach pokojowych ONZ. Wspomnienia, relacje, refleksje” [Soldiers from West Pomerania in the Conciliation Committees and UN Peacekeeping Missions. Memories, Reports, Reflections], ed. Grzegorz Ciechanowski

Review of the scientific journal “Reality of Politics”

Slavoj Žižek, “Rok niebezpiecznych marzeń” [The Year of Dreaming Dangerously]