title: Peter Guber

text: Following the initial Nora Roberts' adaptations, Mandalay Television produced the Nora Roberts II Collection, with four more all-new original movies: "Northern Lights", "Midnight Bayou", "High Noon" and "Tribute". The second collection was seen by over 49 million viewers, and "Northern Lights" was one of the top rated cable movies in 2009. Mandalay Television completed the ninth installment in the franchise, "Carnal Innocence", starring Gabrielle Anwar, which premiered on Lifetime in June 2011. The tenth movie, "Brazen Virtue", will soon be produced for Netflix.


title: Peter Guber

text: Peter Guber serves as chairman of the board of directors and is the managing partner of Mandalay Baseball LLC, which is a joint venture with ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mandalay Baseball recently acquired the Oklahoma City Dodgers, the Triple-A affiliated Minor League Baseball franchise.


title: Peter Guber

text: Guber previously served as the chairman of the board of directors for Mandalay Baseball Properties, which has owned and operated a national array of affiliated Minor League Baseball franchises and venues. Among the professional sports franchises that have been recently divested by Mandalay Baseball Properties are the Dayton Dragons, a Single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, which broke the all-time North American professional sports record for consecutive sell outs in 2011 with 815 games encompassing 12 seasons. In August 2014, the team was sold for the highest price ever paid for a Minor League Baseball franchise.


title: Peter Guber

text: In 2012, Guber and Mandalay Entertainment partnered with CAA Sports and Mike Tollin to create Mandalay Sports Media. The sports media business creates, finances, and acquires operating businesses, intellectual property, and varied enterprises within the sports and media sectors, as well as develops sports-themed entertainment programming for distribution across film, television, mobile and digital.


title: Peter Guber

text: With Guber executive producing, Mandalay Sports Media made "The Last Dance", a ten-part documentary series that chronicles Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty, which premiered on ESPN on April 19, 2020. Created in partnership with Netflix, the series became the all-time most-viewed documentary on the network. In 2020, "The Last Dance" was nominated for three Emmy Awards, and won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. The series also won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary (Television) and the Producers Guild Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television.


title: Peter Guber

text: In September 2012, Peter Guber and Mandalay Entertainment joined a partnership that purchased Dick Clark Productions from Red Zone Capital Management. Productions include specials such as "The Golden Globes", "The American Music Awards", "The Academy of Country Music Awards","New Year's Rockin' Eve", and the hit reality show "So You Think You Can Dance". The partnership sold DCP in 2016.


title: Peter Guber

text: Peter Guber serves as the Co-Executive Chairman of the Golden State Warriors. As co-managing partner, he joined Joe Lacob as the driving forces behind the current ownership group's NBA record-setting bid to purchase the Warriors in 2010. Consultant Marc Ganis said of the purchase, "[t]his could be one of the most valuable teams in the NBA."


title: Peter Guber

text: The Warriors won their first NBA Championship under Guber and Lacob's leadership in the 2014-15 NBA season. The Golden State Warriors also won the 2014 Sports Business Journal Award for Team of the Year, with the publication noting that the team "[c]ontinued a sharp trajectory in 2013 under owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber that produced strong, extensive on- and off-court gains". Lacob has said of Guber "[h]e cares more than any owner about the team, the image of the team and what the fans think."


title: Peter Guber

text: Continuing their success, the Warriors went on to win impressive back-to-back NBA Championships in the 2016-17 NBA season and the 2017–18 NBA season. In 2018, the Golden State Warriors were named Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year. In 2019, the Golden State Warriors were named Franchise of the Decade across all professional sports teams by the "Sports Business Journal".


title: Peter Guber

text: In October 2015, Guber and Lacob purchased twelve acres of land in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood to build a privately financed new arena. The move would mark the Warriors' return to a home arena in San Francisco (from Oakland) for the first time in more than four decades. In September 2019, the Warriors opened the Chase Center, the first arena of its type in downtown San Francisco, and played the first game there in October 2019. The $1.4 billion sports and entertainment venue hosts major sporting events, concerts, conventions, family shows and more.  With this arena, the Warriors officially transitioned from a basketball team into a sports and entertainment company. In September 2020, the "Sports Business Journal" named the Chase Center Sports Facility of the Year. “This award is a recognition of the vision, planning and execution that went into making Chase Center a world-class sports and entertainment venue,” said Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts. “Chase Center sets the bar when it comes to an immersive fan experience and world-class NBA team amenities.” The Warriors now lead all major professional teams with four Sports Business Awards.


title: Peter Guber

text: Guber is an owner of the 2020 MLB World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.  In 2012, Guber entered into a third partnership with Magic Johnson and teamed up with Guggenheim Baseball Management to purchase the [s]toried Major League Baseball franchise.  Together, the group made the $2.15 billion winning offer, which more than doubled the previous record price for a North American sports franchise." Under their ownership, the franchise has won the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020 National League West Championship.  In 2017, 2018, and 2020, the Dodgers became National League Champions, earning them a place in the World Series.  In 2020, the Dodgers captured the ultimate prize in baseball, bringing the Commissioner’s Trophy back to Los Angeles for the first time in thirty-two years.  The team ended the 2020 regular season with an impressive record.  A .717 winning percentage placed them sixth of all time, and made them the only National League team with a .700-plus win percentage since the 1909 Pirates.  Additionally, Guber owns and serves as Managing Partner of the Dodgers’ Triple- A affiliate, the Oklahoma City Dodgers. In 2018, the Oklahoma City Dodgers were named the Triple-A winner of the prestigious Bob Freitas Award, an honor presented to Minor League Baseball's top franchise based on community involvement, long-term business success, and consistent operational excellence.


title: Peter Guber

text: In October 2014, Peter Guber became the owner and executive chairman of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). The ownership group includes sports veteran Tom Penn, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Mia Hamm Garciaparra and Tony Robbins, among others. The club debuted in 2018 in a newly constructed, state-of-the-art soccer stadium in the greater Los Angeles area that was built specifically for the team. LAFC's Banc of California Stadium is the first open-air stadium built in Los Angeles since Dodger Stadium in 1962.


title: Peter Guber

text: In only its second season, LAFC won the 2019 MLS' Supporters' Shield, awarded each year to the team with the best regular season record. That same year, Fast Company named LAFC one of the world's most innovative companies.


title: Peter Guber

text: In 2020, LAFC's star forward, Diego Rossi, was awarded the MLS Golden Boot award as the top goal scorer of the year in all of Major League Soccer.


title: Peter Guber

text: Guber's most recent book, "Tell To Win - Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story", became a No. 1 bestseller in "The New York Times", "USA Today", "The Wall Street Journal". "Fortune" magazine chose "Tell To Win" as one of their "5 Business Books You Can Really Use." Peter Guber's other books include "Inside the Deep" and the "Los Angeles Times" best-seller "Shootout: Surviving Fame and (Mis)Fortune in Hollywood". Guber authored a cover piece for the "Harvard Business Review" and op-ed pieces for "The New York Times".


title: Peter Guber

text: Of "Tell To Win", President Bill Clinton said “In TELL TO WIN, Peter Guber demonstrates that telling purposeful stories is the best way to persuade, motivate and convince who you want to do what you need.”


title: Peter Guber

text: Robert A. Iger, former president and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company said “TELL TO WIN gives great insight into why good storytelling skills are essential for a successful leader. It's both an engaging read and a great practical guide on how to listen, prepare and marshal facts to tell the right kind of story to the right audience.”


title: Peter Guber

text: Peter Guber is a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television and Digital Media and has been a member of the faculty for over 30 years, teaching courses on leadership, digital media, sports entertainment and business storytelling. He also teaches at UCLA's Anderson School of Management.


title: Peter Guber

text: Of his storytelling course, Guber said, ""I wanted students to recognize the power of narrative," he said. "Storytelling is not frivolous entertainment. It's an inspirational and professional tool that can bring life into focus."


title: Peter Guber

text: He is a member of the UCLA Foundation board of trustees, as well as the winner of UCLA's Service Award for his accomplishments and association with the university. Guber is the chair of the founding board of advisors for the Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment & Sports (MEMES) at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.


title: Peter Guber

text: In 2017, Guber was appointed to the University of California board of regents by the governor of California, Edmund G. Brown, Jr. As Regent of the University of California, Guber is part of the governing board responsible for the oversight of all university affairs, providing guidance and perspective on important issues facing public higher education in California.


title: Peter Guber

text: In 2012, Guber was named one of the "Twelve Great Speakers of the Year" by Successful Meetings magazine. Guber's national and global speaking events include Cisco, JWT, Under Armour, Alcoa, HSBC, Twitter, Sodexo, Milken Institute, Intel, Korn Ferry, Women's Wear Daily CEO Summit, Wharton Leadership Conference, GAP, Inc, John Hancock Life Insurance, Experian Marketing, Del Monte Foods, Cox Media Group and Comcast.


title: Peter Guber

text: In 2016, Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, former Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Bruce Stein and Guber founded aXiomatic, a bi-coastal ownership group with a focus on investing in and acquiring esports companies. Leonsis, Stein and Guber recruited the likes of Johnson, AOL co-founder Steve Case and others as investors in aXiomatic. In September 2016, aXiomatic announced it had acquired the controlling interest in esports Team Liquid and appointed Leonsis, Stein and Guber to its board. AXiomatic would receive investment from Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik in June 2017 and Warriors co-owner and Oaktree Capital co-founder Bruce Karsh in March 2018.


title: Peter Guber

text: AXiomatic acquired controlling interest in one of the world's esports brands, Team Liquid, in 2016. Through strategic partnerships, investments and acquisitions, the team connects esports groups with resources, including venues, technologies, media content, distributions partners and investment capital. In 2018, aXiomatic participated in a $1.25 billion strategic investment round for Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, one of the most-played and popular titles ever. In January 2019, aXiomatic participated in a $245 million strategic investment round for Niantic, Inc., maker of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go, the incredibly successful title that, in June 2018, surpassed the $2 billion mark in revenue.


title: Peter Guber

text: Guber is the author of three books. His 2011 book, "Tell to Win", reached No. 1 on the "New York Times" Hardcover Advice & Miscellaneous Best Sellers list.


title: Peter Guber

text: Guber is married to Lynda Francine "Tara" Gellis, with whom he has four children: Elizabeth Sugarman, Jodi Brufsky, Samuel Guber, and Jackson Guber.


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands is an American synth-pop band based in Baltimore, Maryland, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars), Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (percussion). The band was formed in January 2006 by Welmers, Cashion and Herring—the remaining members of the performance art college band Art Lord & the Self-Portraits—and drummer Erick Murillo.


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands came to prominence in 2014 with their fourth album "Singles" released by 4AD. Its lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was considered the best song of 2014 by "Pitchfork", and "NME" and its performance at the "Late Show with David Letterman" in March 2014, became the most-viewed video on the show's YouTube page.


title: Future Islands

text: Sam Herring and Gerrit Welmers grew up in Morehead City, North Carolina, two streets away from each other, and attended the same middle school in Newport, North Carolina. They became friends around 1998, when they were in 8th grade. Herring had started making hip-hop music when he was 13 or 14, while Gerrit was a skater with interests in metal and punk music who bought his first guitar at age 14. Having different musical backgrounds, they did not consider making music together during high school.


title: Future Islands

text: William Cashion started playing guitar when he was around 13, having had a couple of bands as a teenager in Raleigh, where he commuted to high school from Wendell, North Carolina. In 2002 he enrolled in the painting and drawing program at East Carolina University and had drawing classes with Sam Herring.


title: Future Islands

text: The idea to form a band came while Cashion was helping Herring study for an art history exam. They invited local record shop personality Adam Beeby to play rhythmic keyboards and fellow art student Kymia Nawabi for percussion and backing vocals. After a tumultuous debut on Valentine's Day February 14, 2003, at Soccer Moms' House, Herring also invited Welmers to join the band. Only Cashion and Welmers already played a musical instrument—the guitar—but Cashion took the bass and Welmers the keyboards, for a Kraftwerk-inspired sound.


title: Future Islands

text: Sam Herring played Locke Ernst-Frost, an arrogant narcissistic artist from Germany, Ohio, dressed in a 70s-inspired white suit with slicked-back hair, and a heavy German accent. The character's name originally was meant to be Oarlock Ernest Frost but it got shortened as a reference to John Locke, the religious poet; Max Ernst, the artist; and Robert Frost, the American poet.


title: Future Islands

text: The band quickly gained a local reputation and started touring the underground venues in the Southeast, playing shows with North Carolina acts like Valient Thorr and Baltimore artists such as Height, Videohippos, OCDJ, Nuclear Power Pants, Santa Dads, Ecstatic Sunshine, Blood Baby, Ponytail and electronic musician Dan Deacon whom they met during a show on May 26, 2004.


title: Future Islands

text: Nawabi who was already a senior when Cashion, Herring and Welmers were freshmen, left the band to prepare for her graduation project in June–July 2003. When Adam Beeby had to leave Greenville in September 2005, the remaining members dissolved the band.


title: Future Islands

text: When Art Lord & the Self Portraits disbanded in late 2005, its members forgot they had discussed with alt-country band The Texas Governor the possibility of touring together. Future Islands was formed in early 2006 to keep that commitment, with an original line-up consisting of Cashion, Herring, Welmers and Erick Murillo—bassist for The Kickass —who played an electronic drum kit.


title: Future Islands

text: Already as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, the band wanted to change their image and took this opportunity to do so. William Cashion stated: "Me and Gerrit had been talking for a while about how we wanted to get rid of the gimmick. We wanted to be taken seriously. Our songs had outgrown the gimmick that the band was made on. The songs were starting to deal with bigger, personal, universal themes. We wanted to be taken seriously."


title: Future Islands

text: The band played their first show on February 12, 2006, at an anti-Valentine's Day party in a venue called the Turducken house, opening for about a dozen bands. After writing 6-7 songs in only one week, they had to come up with a new name quickly, narrowing it down to two choices—Future Shoes and Already Islands—and combining them into one. Future Islands self-released the EP "Little Advances" on April 28, 2006, which they recorded in March 2006.


title: Future Islands

text: A couple of months later, Herring dropped out of college and left Greenville to deal with a substance abuse problem he had acquired: "In June, I left town and didn't come back. It was just drug problems, man. I got sucked into the darkness of partying and shit college kids do. I came clean to my parents and said, 'Look, I have a problem and need your help.' I stayed at my parent's for about a month and then moved across the state to Asheville, North Carolina. It took about a year for me to get my act together."


title: Future Islands

text: The band still continued and on January 6, 2007, they self-released a split CD with Welmers' solo project Moss of Aura, recorded in December 2006.


title: Future Islands

text: In July 2007, Future Islands recorded their debut album "Wave Like Home" with Chester Endersby Gwazda at Backdoor Skateshop in Greenville. As Cashion describes: "When we did "Wave Like Home", we were working with a really tight schedule. Sam lived in Asheville and could only be in Greenville to record for a week or so, and we had to work very fast. We recorded the whole album in 3 days, and we spent about a month mixing it."


title: Future Islands

text: After a Halloween party in 2007, Erick Murillo quit the band. Having finished his degree, Cashion moved back to Raleigh: "We were scattered across North Carolina. I was living in Raleigh on friends' couches, Gerrit was in Greenville and Sam was in Asheville, which was five hours away." Between November 2007 and June 2008, Future Islands—encouraged by Dan Deacon and Benny Boeldt from Baltimore band Adventure—relocated to Baltimore. Cashion moved in November, Herring in January and finally Welmers. There, they could have access to cheap rent, be part of a supportive community and be closer to cities like New York and Washington, which allowed them to tour more extensively.


title: Future Islands

text: During the first half of 2008, the band added another drummer, Sam Ortiz from the Baltimore band Thrust Lab, who left weeks before the start of their first national tour in late July. On August 5, 2008, the band released the track "Follow You (Pangea Version)" as part of a split 7-inch with Deacon, through the label 307 Knox Records. Future Islands' track on the EP "Follow You (Pangea version)" was recorded in April 2006 at the Bonque house in Greenville, North Carolina during the Pangea sessions: the band's first proper session with Chester Endersby Gwazda.


title: Future Islands

text: London-based label Upset The Rhythm released "Wave Like Home" on August 25, 2008, which made sales difficult in the US due to the import costs. The cover art was designed by Kymia Nawabi, a former member of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. She also designed the cover art of the "Feathers and Hallways" 7-inch which was recorded in Oakland, California, on July 21, 2008, during their first U.S. tour. Produced by Chester Endersby Gwazda, it was released on April 15, 2009, by Upset The Rhythm. This single was their first release as a focused three-piece: "We have definitely talked about adding a drummer at some point, when the time is right, but right now it just makes sense to be a three piece if, for nothing else, the fact that it is really easy to tour as a three piece. We really have very little gear. We really just have PA speakers for the keyboard and a bass amp."


title: Future Islands

text: The strain of the band's first two consecutive national tours led to the end of Herring's long-term relationship in late 2008. This became the theme of Future Islands' second album "In Evening Air" whose first songs were written right after the breakup. In early 2009, the band toured Europe for the first time. The song "Tin Man" took the band through Dan Deacon's "Bromst" US and European tour.


title: Future Islands

text: Later that year, the band signed to independent record company Thrill Jockey. It was Double Dagger's bassist Bruce Willen who was responsible for giving the label a demo that contained early mixes of "Tin Man", "Walking Through That Door", "Long Flight" and "As I Fall". Future Islands began writing the rest of the album after Whartscape 2009 and recorded it in the band's living room in the historic Marble Hill neighborhood in Baltimore, with Chester Enderby Gwazda in July 2009. Released May 4, 2010, the cover art was again designed by Kymia Nawabi.


title: Future Islands

text: In February 2010, Future Islands released through the NYC art collective Free Danger the EP "The Post Office Chapel Wave" with remixes by Pictureplane, Javelin, Jones and Moss Of Aura, and collaborations with No Age and Victoria Legrand from Beach House. Future Islands debut with Thrill Jockey was the EP "In the Fall" released in April 2010 and produced by Chester Enderby Gwazda. Its title track featured vocals by Katrina Ford from Celebration. The EP also included an extended version of "Tin Man", a 2007 track "Virgo Distracts" and "Awake and Dreaming" which had been written for "In Evening Air" but did not fit the mood of the album. The cover art was shot by Bruce Willen from Post Typography.


title: Future Islands

text: Interested in expanding their sound, on July 7, 2010, the band recorded "Undressed", an acoustic EP at Mobtown Studios, Baltimore for a radio broadcast. Produced by Mat Leffler-Schulman, the art cover was again designed by Kymia Nawabi. Played live at an art opening and at Whartscape 2010, the EP was released in September of that year: "We had been talking about arranging and performing an acoustic show for a while, and in the summer of 2010, Elena Johnston and Natasha Tylea invited us to do an acoustic performance at the opening of the "Wild Nothing" photography show that they curated. We got some friends together and figured out the acoustic versions."


title: Future Islands

text: On November 4, 2010, Future Islands released a split 7-inch with the Raleigh band Lonnie Walker featuring the track "The Ink Well". The cover art was by Elena Johnston and the single lead to the creation of the Baltimore independent label Friends Records.


title: Future Islands

text: Following a year of solid touring, Future Islands recorded their third album "On the Water" in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, between late May and early June 2011 with producer Chester Endersby Gwazda. William Cashion commented "Being secluded and free from distractions was the most important aspect of our going to North Carolina. Our friend Abe [Sanders] pretty much let us take over his house for ten days, and that gave us a lot of freedom to focus on writing and recording."


title: Future Islands

text: Not wanting to be pigeonholed, the band went against the expectation generated by "In Evening Air", and the upbeat tone of the previous album was followed by a slow-burning record. Welmers' dance-floor-ready synthesizer and Cashion's uptempo bass were stripped down. The tone of the lyrics changed, according to Herring: "Because I didn't have that same anger, so I don't write about it."


title: Future Islands

text: Friction between the band and Thrill Jockey started to appear during the recording sessions, as Herring commented: "We had some issues. There was someone from the label hanging around talking about deadlines. Can we not talk about business while writing a song? Do you want it to be a good album, or do you want it to come out on time?"


title: Future Islands

text: Pressured by their label, the band rushed the mix and promotion of the album. The lead single "Before the Bridge/Find Love" was released on July 19, 2011, and the album on October 11, 2011. It featured a duet with Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak on the track "The Great Fire" and the art cover was designed by Baltimore artist Elena Johnston. After one year of touring "On the Water", the band broke ties with their label.


title: Future Islands

text: On July 17, 2012, Future Islands released a charity split single with Baltimore band Ed Schrader's Music Beat through Famous Class records, featuring the song "Cotton Flower" and on September 3, 2012, they released the single "Tomorrow/The Fountain" through their previous label—Upset the Rhythm.


title: Future Islands

text: Having toured for five consecutive years, in 2013 Future Islands was finally able to afford taking a break from the road, to write their fourth album: "We sank everything we had into ["Singles"]. It's definitely our most polished record. We were able to take time off the road because of the money we had saved from years of touring, so were able to write while not under the pressure of being in between tours."


title: Future Islands

text: They started writing in February 2013 in a rented hunting cabin in rural North Carolina, while rehearsing for the ten-year anniversary of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits' first show. About the writing process, Herring described: "We ended up demoing about 24 or 25 songs, then went into the studio and decided to do 13 of those, and by the end of it we decided it would be a ten-track record. The writing process started in February – there were two or three songs that we had from the year before that we'd demoed – we stopped writing in the last week of July, and went into the studio in the first week of August. So there was a good five and a half, six months of writing, and getting together two or three times a week over that period to just jam and see what came up."


title: Future Islands

text: The band financed the album and recorded it at the Dreamland studios in Hurley, New York, in August 2013 with producer Chris Coady. In early 2014, the Future Islands announced they had signed a three-album deal to 4AD, who released "Singles" on March 24, 2014. The cover art was by mixed media artist Beth Hoeckel.


title: Future Islands

text: The band made their network television début on March 3, 2014, on "The Late Show with David Letterman", performing the lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)". Their performance on the show, particularly Herring's onstage antics, became an internet success, and garnered millions of views on YouTube. "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was eventually named the best song of 2014 by Pitchfork Media, the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and Consequence of Sound. The success of the album lead the "Singles" tour to extend itself until November 2015.


title: Future Islands

text: In February 2015, Future Islands wrote the single "The Chase"/"Haunted by You" and recorded it in March with producer Jim Eno at Public Hi-Fi, Austin, Texas. The single was released on April 29, 2015, with a cover art by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez.


title: Future Islands

text: In 2016, Future Islands took a break from touring and started writing their fifth album in January, in the small beach town of Avon, in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. William Cashion stated: "We got a beach house on the outer banks of North Carolina in the dead of winter. There was nobody there but us. You could look out of any window of this four-storey house and you'd be able to see the ocean. We set up in the living room, we'd get up every day and start jamming after our morning coffee and just go all day. We wrote about eight songs there, and about three of them made it onto the record. From that point on, we'd get together in chunks – we'd go to our rehearsal space in Baltimore, or over to Gerrit's place or to my home studio. We tried to just write the way that we always have."


title: Future Islands

text: The band tested their songs live in August playing under different names: The Hidden Haven, named after the beach house where they started writing the album; "This Old House", after the TV show Herring watched when growing up; and Chirping Bush, inspired by a disturbing dream Welmers had about a bunch of birds who could not get out of a bush. "We wanted to do little shows, but we didn't want any attention for the shows; we wanted to kind of do it under the radar."


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands recorded "The Far Field" in November 2016 at the Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Los Angeles, California, with producer John Congleton. The album was released on April 7, 2017, and its lead single "Ran" came out on January 31, 2017, followed by the single "Cave" on March 24. The album featured a duet with Blondie's Debbie Harry. As in the album "In Evening Air", the title comes from Theodore Roethke's poetry work and the cover art — a piece titled "Chrysanthemum Trance" — is again by Kymia Nawabi.


title: Future Islands

text: On September 1, 2019, the band previewed seven new songs during a show at the Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Massachusetts. According to Stereogum, the unreleased tracks were "The Painter", "Hit The Coast", "Born In A War", "Days" (which would later be titled "Thrill"), "Birmingham" (which would later be titled "Waking"), "Plastic Beach" and "Moonlight".


title: Future Islands

text: On July 8, 2020, the band released the new track "For Sure" with an accompanying video. On August 12, 2020, the band announced their album "As Long as You Are" would be released on October 8, 2020, and simultaneously released the single "Thrill". On September 15, 2020, they released the track "Moonlight" which is also on the album. The track "For Sure" was featured on the soundtrack of MLB The Show 21. It was also included on the soundtrack of eFootball 2022.


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 15 February, 2022, performing 'King of Sweden'.


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands' music style has been tagged as synth-pop, but the band has routinely rejected that classification, considering themselves as "post-wave", by combining the romanticism of new wave with the power and drive of post-punk.


title: Future Islands

text: The band's members came from very different musical backgrounds and sensibilities: Sam Herring grew up performing hip-hop, Gerrit Welmers was into punk rock and heavy metal and William Cashion was into indie rock, grunge, krautrock and new wave, so a lot of the band's synth-pop influences come from him. Cashion was also a big fan of The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins, and was influenced by bassists Peter Hook from Joy Division and New Order, and Kim Deal from The Pixies and The Breeders.


title: Future Islands

text: While Welmers and Herring found common ground through Danzig and Kool Keith, it was through Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" which was sampled by Afrika Bambaataa that Cashion and Herring found some common ground when forming the Art Lord & the Self-Portraits. They explained:


title: Future Islands

text: "Our early influences were Kraftwerk and Joy Division and New Order, so it all kind of came from those sounds ... We were just using what we had at our disposal to create, and that were old Casio and Yamaha keyboards and a borrowed bass guitar, borrowed amps. We scraped together what we could to make music with, weird shakers and sound makers and stuff, and that just kind of lead us down a road. These kinds of things defined us early on and we kept with that sound, kept painting with that palette."


title: Future Islands

text: Herring named Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) as "one of the biggest influences on Future Islands". He said of their 1983 album, "Dazzle Ships", "We all just fell in love with it. We couldn't stop listening to it, and it really just became a huge inspiration and influence in creating our second album "In Evening Air"." Cashion affirmed that the entire band has drawn inspiration from OMD's "immense heart and soul".


title: Future Islands

text: In Future Islands writing process, Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion develop the music which Sam Herring responds to with the lyrics. Herring's sad lyrics often contrast with the upbeat mood of the music. He explains: "Where the songs have always been kind of upbeat and happy, the message is often melancholy. I like it that way, people's natural instinct is to let their guards down and dance, and then they actually let the words seep in. Instead of turning away from the darkness, they embrace the light and find the darkness. I think the opposite is true too."


title: Future Islands

text: Literary influences on Herring's writing include poet Theodore Roethke—whose anthology "The Far Field" names Future Islands' 2017 album and includes the "In Evening Air" poem that names their 2010 album—and poet Jack Gilbert: whose poem and anthology "The Great Fires" names one of the band's songs. Herring also admitted being influenced by Italo Calvino's prose during the time he wrote the single "The Fountain".


title: Future Islands

text: In the spring of 2014, Sam Herring was diagnosed with Reinke's edema. According to him "There's four causes. Acid reflux, smoking, talking too much or overuse of the vocal cords, and then chronic misuse of the vocal cords ... which is how I sing. So, basically, I was four for four." Herring started compensating for the fact that he can no longer hit certain notes by growling, which in turn became distinctive on his vocals.


title: Future Islands

text: More than a studio band, Future Islands define themselves as a live band and have toured extensively. Frontman Sam Herring is known by his stage performances. According to William Cashion "A lot of the energy of the show comes from the audience. If the audience is putting off energy, we're able to bounce it back. It's like a feedback loop. If the audience is there with us and they're giving us their energy, then it'll be easy for us to find it."


title: Future Islands

text: The style and presentation of the Art Lord & the Self-Portraits was determined by the art school backgrounds of its members: the band was meant to be a performance art piece. Herring has cited Ian Curtis, James Brown and Elvis Presley. as influences but his background in performance art and conceptual art also became reflected in his stage presence, even for Future Islands.


title: Future Islands

text: "I fell in love with performance art when I was 17 and that was the thing that I found: I just would sit and draw for 20 hours straight and make this thing photorealistic and then put it on a board and then people see it and that's it, or you can stand on the street and perform for 30 minutes with some weird thing you came up with off the top of your head, act out a play to no one but people are going to walk by and you're going to get a reaction. They may not get what you're doing or care about what you're doing, but there's something, you sparked something in their heads. And that's an exciting thing, to look into people's eyes. There's no expectation—you can create a memory for people, like I said, good or bad. It can grab people and that's a cool thing."


title: Future Islands

text: Herring's dedication to stage performance has not been without physical consequenses. When touring Europe as part of the Dan Deacon Ensemble supporting the album "Bromst", Herring was tackled by a drunken spectator in Paris. Six months later he realized he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and underwent surgery in February 2010, continuing to perform shows in the following months wearing a knee brace, which can be seen on the June 24, 2010 Amoeba show footage. In 2014 Herring passed out at the airport on his way to Primavera festival due to exhaustion. Being revived by medics, he still made his plane and played the show that night. In 2015, he tore a meniscus while doing a knee drop when opening for Morrissey at Red Rocks on July 16, but the band completed the remaining four months of the "Singles" tour.


title: Future Islands

text: Coming from an art background Future Islands attribute importance to their albums' cover artwork. William Cashion stated: "I think having good artwork is a big deal for any record. I think if a record has bad artwork I will just dismiss it, I just won't even give it a chance. I think a lot of people share that opinion, that artwork is very important." Future Islands' cover artwork has been delegated to different artists, as Sam Herring explains: "As projects pop up, we decide what artistic styles best speak to the music and the medium, then decide on artists. We primarily choose friends' work, though, people who we've become intimate with as friends. I think that pulls something deeper out of the whole, working with loved ones. You give birth to something bigger than yourself when you involve other people's ideas and minds. That's always a good thing."


title: Future Islands

text: Kymia Nawabi made the cover art for "Wave Like Home", "Feathers & Hallways (single)", "In Evening Air", "Undressed (EP)", "The Far Field". She is the most recurrent artist and is based in Brooklyn. She was a band member of the proto-Future Islands band Art Lord & the Self-Portraits and directed the video of "Walking Through that Door" in stop-motion animation. William Cashion commented "Our friend Kymia ... as I said, we write and record in our own world and she kind of makes ... her artwork is definitely in her own world, in a way. The images she uses are all her own. We went to college with her and we've always admired her work and we love working with her. She also did the cover for the new EP and the Feathers & Hallways EP. We definitely put a lot of weight on the art, and we want to make the albums look as good as they sound."


title: Future Islands

text: Elena Johnston created the cover art for "On the Water", "Future Islands / Lonnie Walker" split 7-inch, "Dream of You and Me" single. She co-directed with William Cashion the video of "Dream of You and Me" and is the creator of the large canvas seen in the background of the interior scenes of the video "Ran".<br>


title: Future Islands

text: About the "On the Water" art cover William Cashion stated: "We decided that we wanted the album art to be loose and abstract for this album ... We wanted washes of color. The cover is actually an excerpt of a painting that Elena had already created." In another interview he added "It was great working with her. The piece wasn't made specifically for the album. We chose it from a series of paintings and drawings. She handled most of the typography on the album as well."


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands has performed over 1,000 shows in their first 10 years. Since 2013, the band has included a drummer in its tours. In late 2013 and early 2014 it was Double Dagger's former drummer Denny Bowen who had already played drums and percussion on Future Islands albums "In Evening Air", "On the Water" and "Singles" among some EPs and singles. In the spring of 2014, due to tour schedule conflicts between Future Islands and his own band Roomrunner, Bowen was replaced by Mike Lowry from Baltimore bands Lake Trout and Mt. Royal. Lowry was also part of The Far Field studio sessions.


title: Future Islands

text: "Our shows are all about creating a really energetic vibe, a physical thing, and we want more people to move – that's the big thing. We either want them to move, or be moved by the music. It was never weird to us that we didn't have a drummer, but to some people it was – they'd be like: "Where the hell are the drums coming from?"


title: Future Islands

text: Future Islands have opened for Morrissey, Grace Jones, Phantogram, Titus Andronicus and Okkervil River. They have performed at festivals such as Latitude, Great Escape, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, Coachella, Øyafestivalen, Sziget, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch!, and SXSW, among others.


title: Future Islands

text: Keyboardist Gerrit Welmers has been writing solo as 'Moss of Aura' since 2006. After releasing five albums on cassette, Moss of Aura released the LP "Wading" in 2012 and "We'll All Collide" in 2016 through Friends Records.


title: Future Islands

text: In 2008, Sam Herring and William Cashion started a parallel project called The Snails with members of other Baltimore bands. Their releases took place during Future Islands tour breaks: debut EP "Worth the Wait" came out in April 2013. In February 2016, they released their debut album "Songs from The Shoebox".


title: Future Islands

text: In early 2012, William Cashion formed Peals with Double Dagger's former bassist Bruce Willen, releasing their debut album "Walking Field" in May 2013. In 2016 they released the album "Honey" through Friends Records.


title: Future Islands

text: Samuel T. Herring uses the stage name Hemlock Ernst when performing rap, the name Ernst coming from his Art Lord & the Self-Portraits character. He has appeared on collaborative hip-hop releases by Milo/Scallops Hotel, Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle among others. He teamed up with producer Madlib for a rap project named Trouble knows Me, they released an EP in 2015.


title: Future Islands

text: As Samuel T. Herring, he has collaborated with Double Dagger, Microkingdom, Beth Jeans Houghton/Du Blonde, Gangrene, BadBadNotGood, Clams Casino and Celebration.


title: Right triangle

text: A right triangle (American English) or right-angled triangle (British), or more formally an orthogonal triangle, formerly called a rectangled triangle (), is a triangle in which one angle is a right angle (that is, a 90-degree angle), i.e., in which two sides are perpendicular. The relation between the sides and other angles of the right triangle is the basis for trigonometry.


title: Right triangle

text: The side opposite to the right angle is called the "hypotenuse" (side "c" in the figure). The sides adjacent to the right angle are called "legs" (or "catheti", singular: "cathetus"). Side "a" may be identified as the side "adjacent to angle B" and "opposed to" (or "opposite") "angle A", while side "b" is the side "adjacent to angle A" and "opposed to angle B".


title: Right triangle

text: If the lengths of all three sides of a right triangle are integers, the triangle is said to be a Pythagorean triangle and its side lengths are collectively known as a "Pythagorean triple".


title: Right triangle

text: As with any triangle, the area is equal to one half the base multiplied by the corresponding height. In a right triangle, if one leg is taken as the base then the other is height, so the area of a right triangle is one half the product of the two legs. As a formula the area "T" is


title: Right triangle

text: If the incircle is tangent to the hypotenuse AB at point P, then denoting the semi-perimeter as "s", we have and , and the area is given by


title: Right triangle

text: If an altitude is drawn from the vertex with the right angle to the hypotenuse then the triangle is divided into two smaller triangles which are both similar to the original and therefore similar to each other. From this:


title: Right triangle

text: The altitude from either leg coincides with the other leg. Since these intersect at the right-angled vertex, the right triangle's orthocenter—the intersection of its three altitudes—coincides with the right-angled vertex.


title: Right triangle

text: In any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs (the two sides that meet at a right angle).


title: Right triangle

text: where "c" is the length of the hypotenuse, and "a" and "b" are the lengths of the remaining two sides.


title: Right triangle

text: A triangle "ABC" with sides formula_13, semiperimeter "s", area "T", altitude "h" opposite the longest side, circumradius "R", inradius "r", exradii "r", "r", "r" (tangent to "a", "b", "c" respectively), and medians "m", "m", "m" is a right triangle if and only if any one of the statements in the following six categories is true. All of them are of course also properties of a right triangle, since characterizations are equivalences.


title: Right triangle

text: The trigonometric functions for acute angles can be defined as ratios of the sides of a right triangle. For a given angle, a right triangle may be constructed with this angle, and the sides labeled opposite, adjacent and hypotenuse with reference to this angle according to the definitions above. These ratios of the sides do not depend on the particular right triangle chosen, but only on the given angle, since all triangles constructed this way are similar. If, for a given angle α, the opposite side, adjacent side and hypotenuse are labeled "O", "A" and "H" respectively, then the trigonometric functions are


title: Right triangle

text: For the expression of hyperbolic functions as ratio of the sides of a right triangle, see the hyperbolic triangle of a hyperbolic sector.


title: Right triangle

text: The values of the trigonometric functions can be evaluated exactly for certain angles using right triangles with special angles. These include the "30-60-90 triangle" which can be used to evaluate the trigonometric functions for any multiple of π/6, and the "45-45-90 triangle" which can be used to evaluate the trigonometric functions for any multiple of π/4.


title: Right triangle

text: Let "H", "G", and "A" be the harmonic mean, the geometric mean, and the arithmetic mean of two positive numbers "a" and "b" with "a" > "b". If a right triangle has legs "H" and "G" and hypotenuse "A", then


title: Right triangle

text: where formula_41 is the golden ratio formula_42 Since the sides of this right triangle are in geometric progression, this is the Kepler triangle.


title: Right triangle

text: Thales' theorem states that if "A" is any point of the circle with diameter "BC" (except "B" or "C" themselves) "ABC" is a right triangle where "A" is the right angle. The converse states that if a right triangle is inscribed in a circle then the hypotenuse will be a diameter of the circle. A corollary is that the length of the hypotenuse is twice the distance from the right angle vertex to the midpoint of the hypotenuse. Also, the center of the circle that circumscribes a right triangle is the midpoint of the hypotenuse and its radius is one half the length of the hypotenuse.


title: Right triangle

text: The median on the hypotenuse of a right triangle divides the triangle into two isosceles triangles, because the median equals one-half the hypotenuse.


title: Right triangle

text: In a right triangle, the Euler line contains the median on the hypotenuse—that is, it goes through both the right-angled vertex and the midpoint of the side opposite that vertex. This is because the right triangle's orthocenter, the intersection of its altitudes, falls on the right-angled vertex while its circumcenter, the intersection of its perpendicular bisectors of sides, falls on the midpoint of the hypotenuse.


title: Right triangle

text: In any right triangle the diameter of the incircle is less than half the hypotenuse, and more strongly it is less than or equal to the hypotenuse times formula_45


title: Right triangle

text: If segments of lengths "p" and "q" emanating from vertex "C" trisect the hypotenuse into segments of length "c"/3, then


title: Right triangle

text: The right triangle is the only triangle having two, rather than one or three, distinct inscribed squares.


title: Right triangle

text: Given "h" > "k". Let "h" and "k" be the sides of the two inscribed squares in a right triangle with hypotenuse "c". Then


title: Right triangle

text: The perimeter of a right triangle equals the sum of the radii of the incircle and the three excircles:


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces are the combined military forces of Iran, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army ("Arteš"), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("Sepâh") and the Law Enforcement Force (Police).


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iranian Armed Forces are the largest in the Middle East in terms of active troops. Iran's military forces are made up of approximately 610,000 active-duty personnel plus 350,000 reserve and trained personnel that can be mobilized when needed, bringing the country's military manpower to about 960,000 total personnel. These numbers do not include Law Enforcement Force or Basij.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Most of Iran's imported weapons consist of American systems purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with limited purchases from the Soviet Union in the 1990s following the Iran–Iraq War. However, the country has since then launched a robust domestic rearmament program, and its inventory has become increasingly indigenous. According to Iranian officials, most of the country's military hardware is domestically manufactured, and the country had already become an exporter of arms by the 2000s. Unable to import weapon systems from abroad due to international and U.S. sanctions, and suffering from an increasingly aging air force fleet, Iran has invested considerable funds into an ambitious ballistic and cruise missile program for long-range strike capability, and has manufactured different types of arms and munitions, including tanks, armoured vehicles and drones, as well as various naval assets and aerial defense systems.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iran's ballistic missile and space program is an internationally hot political topic over which it has consistently refused to negotiate. Iranian authorities state that the country's missile program is not designed to deliver nuclear payloads, but used only for surgical strikes, and is therefore not relevant to any nuclear negotiations with the P5+1.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: The Iranian drone program has also raised concerns across the Middle East and much of the Western world, especially with proliferation among Iranian-allied forces in the Middle East, as well as limited exports to countries hostile to the U.S. According to U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the U.S is "for the first time since the Korean War operating without complete air superiority" due to threats posed by Iranian drones.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: All branches of the armed forces fall under the command of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces. The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics is responsible for planning logistics and funding of the armed forces and is not involved with in-the-field military operational command. The commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the Supreme Leader.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: After the coup in 1953, Iran began purchasing some weapons from Israel, the United States and other countries of the Western Bloc. Later on, Iran began establishing its own armaments industry; its efforts in this remained largely unrecognized internationally, until recently.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Following the Iranian revolution in 1979, deteriorating relations with the U.S. resulted in international sanctions led by the US, including an arms embargo being imposed on Iran.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Revolutionary Iran was taken by surprise by the Iraqi invasion that began the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. During this conflict, there were several conflicts against the United States. From 1987, the United States Central Command sought to stop Iranian mine-laying vessels from blocking the international sea lanes through the Persian Gulf in Operation Prime Chance. The operation lasted until 1989. On April 18, 1988, the US retaliated for the Iranian mining of the in Operation Praying Mantis. Simultaneously, the Iranian armed forces had to learn to maintain and keep operational, their large stocks of US-built equipment and weaponry without outside help, due to the American-led sanctions. However, Iran was able to obtain limited amounts of American-made armaments, when it was able to buy American spare parts and weaponry for its armed forces, during the Iran–Contra affair. At first, deliveries came via Israel and later, from the US.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: The Iranian government established a five-year rearmament program in 1989 to replace worn-out weaponry from the Iran–Iraq War. Between 1989 and 1992, Iran spent $10 billion on arms, some of which were designed to prevent other states' naval vessels from accessing the sea, including marines and long-range Soviet planes capable of attacking aircraft carriers.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: A former military-associated police force, the Iranian Gendarmerie, was merged with the National Police (Shahrbani) and Islamic Revolution Committees in 1990.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 1991, the Iranian armed forces received a number of Iraqi military aircraft being evacuated from the Persian Gulf War of that year; most of which were incorporated into the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: From 2003, there have been repeated US and British allegations that Iranian forces have been covertly involved in the Iraq War. In 2004, Iranian armed forces took Royal Navy personnel prisoner, on the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud in Persian) river, between Iran and Iraq. They were released three days later following diplomatic discussions between the UK and Iran.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 2007, Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces also took prisoner Royal Navy personnel when a boarding party from was seized in the waters between Iran and Iraq, in the Persian Gulf. They were released thirteen days later.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: According to Juan Cole, Iran has never launched an "aggressive war" in modern history, and its leadership adheres to a doctrine of "no first strike". The country's military budget is the lowest per capita in the Persian Gulf region besides the UAE.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Since 1979, there have been no foreign military bases present in Iran. According to Article 146 of the Iranian Constitution, the establishment of any foreign military base in the country is forbidden, even for peaceful purposes.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: On 4 December 2011, an American RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 2012, it was announced that Iran's Quds Force is operating inside Syria providing the government of Bashar al-Assad with intelligence and direction against rebel opposition.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In December 2012, Iran stated it had captured an American ScanEagle UAV that violated its airspace over the Persian Gulf. Iran later stated it had also captured two other ScanEagles.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In November 2015, Iranian special forces assisted in the rescue of a Russian pilot that was shot down by Turkey, over Syria.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In April 2016, Iran sent advisors from the 65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade to Syria in support of the government.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 2016, Revolutionary Guard forces captured US Navy personnel when their boats entered Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. They were released the next day following diplomatic discussions between the US and Iran.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In March 2021 state TV in Iran showed footage of a “missile city” armed with ballistic and cruise weapons described as "a new Revolutionary Guard base" along the Gulf coast.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: It has been reported that Iran is one of the five countries that has a cyber-army capable of conducting cyber-warfare operations. It has also been reported that Iran has immensely increased its cyberwarfare capability since the post presidential election un-rest. Furthermore, China has accused the United States of having initiated a cyber war against Iran, through websites such as Twitter and YouTube and employing a hacker brigade for the purpose of fomenting unrest in Iran. It has also been reported in early 2010, that two new garrisons for cyberwarfare have been established at Zanjan and Isfahan.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Fifth major branch of IRGC Nuclear Command Corps and Nuclear Security and Protection Corps was incorporated publicly 16 March 2022.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's military industry was limited to assembly of foreign weapons. In the assembly lines that were put up by American firms, such as Bell, Litton and Northrop, Iranian workers put together a variety of helicopters, aircraft, guided missiles, electronic components and tanks.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 1973, the Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) was established. The company was set up in a first attempt to organize the assembly and repair of foreign-delivered weapons. The Iranian Defense Industries Organization was the first to succeed in taking a step into what could be called a military industry by reverse engineering Soviet RPG-7, BM-21, and SAM-7 missiles in 1979.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Nevertheless, most of Iran's weapons before the Islamic revolution were imported from the United States and Europe. Between 1971 and 1975, the Shah went on a buying spree, ordering $8 billion in weapons from the United States alone. This alarmed the United States Congress, which strengthened a 1968 law on arms exports in 1976 and renamed it the Arms Export Control Act. Still, the United States continued to sell large amounts of weapons to Iran until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: After the Islamic revolution, Iran found itself severely isolated and lacking technological expertise. Because of economic sanctions and a weapons embargo put on Iran by the United States, it was forced to rely on its domestic arms industry for weapons and spare parts, since there were very few countries willing to


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards were put in charge of creating what is today known as the Iranian military industry. Under their command, Iran's military industry was enormously expanded, and with the Ministry of Defense pouring investment into the missile industry, Iran soon accumulated a vast arsenal of missiles.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Since 1992, it has also produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, radar systems, guided missiles, marines, military vessels and fighter planes. Iran is also producing its own submarines.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In recent years, official announcements have highlighted the development of weapons such as the Fajr-3 (MIRV), Hoot, Kowsar, Fateh-110, Shahab-3 missile systems and a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles, at least one of which Israel claims has been used to spy on its territory. In 2006, an Iranian UAV acquired and allegedly tracked the American aircraft carrier for 25 minutes without being detected, before returning safely to its base.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: On November 2, 2012, Iran's Brigadier General Hassan Seifi reported that the Iranian Army had achieved self-suffiency in producing military equipment, and that the abilities of Iranian scientists have enabled the country to make significant progress in this field. He was quoted saying, "Unlike Western countries which hide their new weapons and munitions from all, the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army is not afraid of displaying its latest military achievements and all countries must become aware of Iran's progress in producing weaponry."


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iran has produced several unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which can be used for reconnaissance and combat operations. Iran has also claimed to have downed, captured and later reverse-engineered US and Israeli drones. Iranian drones have seen extensive combat during the Syrian Civil War as well as by the Houthi movement during the Yemeni Civil War, mostly against Saudi targets. Some time after the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S reported that Iran was supplying Russia with military drones.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: On November 2, 2006, Iran fired unarmed missiles to begin 10 days of military simulations. Iranian state television reported "dozens of missiles were fired including Shahab-2 and Shahab-3 missiles. The missiles had ranges from 300 km to up to 2,000 km. Iranian experts have made some changes to Shahab-3 missiles installing cluster warheads in them with the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs." These launches came after some United States-led military exercises in the Persian Gulf on October 30, 2006, meant to train for blocking the transport of weapons of mass destruction.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iran is also believed to have started the development of an ICBM/IRBM missile project, known as Ghadr-110 with a range of 3000 km; the program is believed to be a parallel of the advancement of a satellite launcher named IRIS. Iran also dedicated underground ballistic missile programs


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iran started a major campaign to produce and stockpile chemical weapons after a truce was agreed with Iraq after 1980-88 Iran–Iraq War. However, Iran ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Iranian troops and civilians suffered tens of thousands of casualties from Iraqi chemical weapons during the 1980-88 Iran–Iraq War.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Even today, more than twenty-four years after the end of the Iran–Iraq War, about 30,000 Iranians are still suffering and dying from the effects of chemical weapons employed by Iraq during the war. The need to manage the treatment of such a large number of casualties has placed Iran's medical specialists in the forefront of the development of effective treatment regimens for chemical weapons victims, and particularly for those suffering from exposure to mustard gas.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: Iran ratified the Biological Weapons Convention in 1973. Iran has advanced biological and genetic engineering research programs supporting an industry that produces vaccines for both domestic use and export.


title: Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces

text: In 2013, Iran was reported to supply money, equipment, technological expertise and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to the Syrian government and Hezbollah during the Syrian civil war, and to the Iraqi government and its state-sponsored organizations the Popular Mobilization Forces, and Peshmerga during War on ISIL.


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!!, is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge. It is the seventh spin-off anime series in the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchise, following "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens".


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: In Mutsuba Town, the birthplace of Rush Dueling, Yuhi and Yuamu meet an alien named Yudias who came to Earth to search for Rush Duel but knows nothing about it.


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: On December 17, 2021, TV Tokyo announced that "Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!" would premiere on April 3, 2022, on TV Tokyo and BS TV Tokyo, with key staff members from "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens" returning for their respective positions: Nobuhiro Kondo is directing the series at Bridge, Toshimitsu Takeuchi is in charge of series' scripts, and Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita are designing the characters. The opening theme is (Mirage) by Frederic while the ending theme is "One Way" by Yūsuke Saeki.


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: On March 3, 2022, it was announced that "Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!" would be getting a manga in Saikyo Jump, written and illustrated by Sugita Naoya which launched on April 4, 2022.


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: A new monster Type for Rush Duels was introduced with the advent of the anime, named Galaxy. It is used by the protagonist, Yudias.


title: Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

text: In August 2022, a new mechanic for Rush Duels debuted in the anime, known as Equip Spells. They were later released in October. These function similar to Equip Spells from the main game.


title: Forsythia

text: Forsythia , is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae. There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. "Forsythia" – also one of the plant's common names – is named after William Forsyth.


title: Forsythia

text: "Forsythia" are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a height of and, rarely, up to with rough grey-brown bark. The leaves are borne oppositely and are usually simple, though sometimes trifoliate with a basal pair of small leaflets; they range between in length and, rarely, up to , with a margin that is serrated or entire (smooth). Twigs may be hollow or chambered, depending on the species.


title: Forsythia

text: The flowers are produced in the early spring before the leaves, bright yellow with a deeply four-lobed flower, the petals joined only at the base. These become pendent in rainy weather thus shielding the reproductive parts.


title: Forsythia

text: There is a long-standing belief that forsythia flowers produce lactose, but lactose occurs only very rarely in natural sources other than milk, and attempts to find lactose in forsythia have been unsuccessful.


title: Forsythia

text: The genus is named after William Forsyth (1737–1804), a Scottish botanist who was a royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society.


title: Forsythia

text: A genetic study does not fully match the traditionally accepted species listed above, and groups the species in four clades: (1) "F. suspensa"; (2) "F. europaea—F. giraldiana"; (3) "F. ovata—F. japonica—F. viridissima"; and (4) "F. koreana—F. mandschurica—F. saxatilis". Of the additional species, "F. koreana" is usually cited as a variety of "F. viridissima", and "F. saxatilis" as a variety of "F. japonica"; the genetic evidence suggests they may be better treated as distinct species.


title: Forsythia

text: Forsythias are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the brown-tail and Gothic moth.


title: Forsythia

text: Two species of forsythia are at the heart of the selected forms and garden hybrids: "Forsythia suspensa" and "F. viridissima". "These two species are, as it were, the founder-members of the forsythia family" writes Alice Coats; they were the earliest species brought into Western gardens from the Far East and they have each played a role in the modern garden shrubs.


title: Forsythia

text: "Forsythia suspensa", the first to be noticed by a Westerner, was seen in a Japanese garden by the botanist-surgeon Carl Peter Thunberg, who included it (as a lilac) in his "Flora Japonica" 1784. Thunberg's professional connections lay with the Dutch East India Company, and "F. suspensa" reached Holland first, by 1833. In England, when it was being offered by Veitch Nurseries in Exeter at mid-century, it was still considered a rarity. Not all the varieties of "suspensa" are splaying and drooping, best seen hanging over a retaining wall; an erect form found by Fortune near Peking in 1861 was for a time classed as a species—"F. fortunei".


title: Forsythia

text: "Forsythia viridissma", meanwhile, had overtaken it in European gardens. The Scottish plant-hunter Robert Fortune "discovered" it—in a mandarin garden of the coastal city of Chusan (Zhoushan)—before he ever saw it growing wild in the mountains in Zhejiang province.


title: Forsythia

text: "Forsythia" × "intermedia", as its name suggests, is a hybrid of "F. suspensa" and "F. viridissima", introduced in continental Europe about 1880. Repeated crosses of the same two parents have made reiterations of "F." × "intermedia" quite variable. A bud sport of a particularly showy ("spectabilis") form is widely marketed as "F." × "intermedia" 'Lynwood Variety'. This cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, as have "F." × "intermedia" 'Courtalyn' and "F." 'Courtasol'.


title: Forsythia

text: About the time of the First World War further species were discovered by plant hunters in China: "F. giraldian" (found in Gansu, 1910) and "F. ovata" (collected from seed in Korea by E.H. Wilson) have been particularly useful as seed parents in 20th-century American crosses.


title: Forsythia

text: Forsythias are popular early spring flowering shrubs in gardens and parks, especially during Eastertide; Forsythias are nicknamed the "Easter Tree", the symbol of the coming spring. Two are commonly cultivated for ornament, "Forsythia × intermedia" and "Forsythia suspensa". They are both spring flowering shrubs, with yellow flowers. They are grown and prized for being tough, reliable garden plants. "Forsythia × intermedia" is the more commonly grown, is smaller, has an upright habit, and produces strongly coloured flowers. "Forsythia suspensa" is a large to very large shrub, can be grown as a weeping shrub on banks, and has paler flowers. Many named garden cultivars can also be found. Blooming Forsythia cuttings are frequently brought indoors in the early spring.


title: Forsythia

text: Commercial propagation is usually by cuttings, taken from green wood after flowering in late spring to early summer; alternatively, cuttings may be taken between November and February. Low hanging boughs often take root, and can be removed for transplanting. A common practice (known as layering) is to place a weight over a branch to keep it on the ground and, after it has rooted, to dig up the roots and cut the rooted part from the main branch; this can then be planted.


title: Forsythia

text: "Forsythia suspensa" is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs in Chinese herbology. Forsythia sticks are used to bow a Korean string instrument called "ajaeng".


title: Forsythia

text: In some regions, the plant may be known as Easter tree and the flowers as "yellow bells". In Iran, the plant is known as “yellow Jasmine”.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Kadaram Kondan () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Rajesh M. Selva and produced by Kamal Haasan. The film stars Vikram in the lead role and Akshara Haasan and Abi Hassan in supporting roles. It was shot between September 2018 and January 2019, and released on 19 July 2019, along with its Telugu-dubbed version "Mr. KK". It is an official remake of the 2010 French film "Point Blank".


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: In the Petronas Towers, a man breaks out of an office after a botched robbery, being chased by two assassins. He is hit by a bike when they corner him, leaving him in a coma.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Dr. Vasu Rajagopalan, who recently moved to Kuala Lumpur with his pregnant wife Aatirah, is assigned to the hospital where the comatose robber has been admitted. After a botched murder attempt on the robber's life, Vasu contacts the cops, which assigns Inspector Kalpana Rangaswamy to the case. Vasu is given her contact number, advising him to contact her if he finds anything suspicious. Upon returning home, a man knocks Vasu out and kidnaps Aatirah. When Vasu regains consciousness, He gets a call from the assailant, who asks him to release the robber in exchange for Aatirah. Meanwhile, Kalpana uncovers the identity of the robber: KK, a notorious criminal and ex-army commando wanted for burglary and contraband dealing. She rushes to the hospital with her associates - Navin and Catherine, narrowly missing Vasu, who had managed to exfiltrate KK from the hospital.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Kalpana's rival team, headed by Vincent Rajadurai, who is notorious for their brutal ways of solving criminal cases, is also on the heels of KK's case. He explains to Kalpana that KK is connected to the recent murder of a wealthy industrialist and warns her to step aside, to which she refuses. Meanwhile, Vasu demands KK to release Aatirah at KL Sentral, in exchange for him to be delivered safely, to which he agrees. At the exchange point, Aatirah and KK are almost on the verge of being exchanged, but the two assassins who had pursued KK earlier arrive, forcing the duos to escape. The assailant brings Aatirah back to his hideout, but is killed by the two assassins, who forcefully abduct Aatirah.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Vasu and KK take refuge at KK's safe house. While KK is distracted, Vasu manages to contact Kalpana, alerting her of his dire situation. Kalpana arrives at the safe house, but not before Vincent's team does. She is then shot dead by Vincent, who is revealed to be a dirty cop. After Vincent leaves, KK manages to subdue his captors and injures one of Vincent's men - Umar, demanding the truth behind his botched burglary attempt. Umar reveals to KK that he was merely a pawn in Vincent's criminal deeds; Vincent had been hired by a businessman to kill his father - the industrialist, in order for the latter to inherit his father's wealth. Vincent had recorded the event on a spy camera and had arranged for his colleague, Anand Makaio - KK's boss, to cover their tracks. Makaio had sent KK to the industrialist's office at the Petronas Towers in the name of retrieving the files of his criminal cases. In reality, it was a trap set by Vincent, who had to have someone framed for the murder. Vincent's men (the two assassins) had attempted to murder KK as well they had retreated after KK's accident.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: The police arrive at the safehouse, forcing KK and Vasu to escape. Vasu is framed for Kalpana's murder, making him a wanted fugitive. The police chase the duo around the city, but they fail to catch them. Vasu begs KK to save his wife, to which he consents. KK coordinates with his associates and forms a plan to save Aatirah; Vasu learns that Aatirah's kidnapper was actually KK's younger brother, Nanda. KK corners Makaio and has him create a diversion in order to distract Vincent, before killing him for his betrayal. Meanwhile, Aatirah is taken into police custody under Vincent's watch; he plans to have her murdered after killing Vasu.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: The next day, KK puts his plan into action - he and his associates coordinate mass robberies across the city and have the culprits arrested by the police under Vincent's jurisdiction, thus creating mass chaos at his police station. As KK had expected, Vincent leaves to meet Makaio (as part of the diversion). With Vincent out of the way, KK and Vasu infiltrate the police station under the guise of police officers and attempt to break into Vincent's safe - which contains the footage of the industrialist's murder. Annie, Vincent's colleague, attempts to have Aatirah murdered. She is incapacitated by Vasu, but not before she manages to injure Aatirah. Vincent, upon discovering Makaio's murder, deduces KK's deception and rushes back. He fights with KK, resulting in the latter knocking the former out. KK acquires the pen drive containing the footage of the assassination and plants it on Vasu, who has been captured by Catherine. She discovers the pen drive in Vasu's pocket and plays it, exposing Vincent, who is then arrested for his criminal deeds. Vasu is released and is escorted to the hospital where Aatirah has been admitted to; she is shown to have narrowly avoided a miscarriage. She gives birth to a healthy daughter and has an emotional reunion with Vasu, while KK silently escapes.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: 7 years later, on Vasu's daughter's birthday, Vasu and Aatirah discover that Vincent has been murdered under mysterious circumstances while on parole. They also receive a gift from KK - containing a necklace that Aatirah had once worn - implying that KK had murdered Vincent, thus getting his revenge.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Film producer Chandrahasan initially wanted to make a film under his banner Raaj Kamal Films International with his brother Kamal Haasan starring and Rajesh M. Selva directing. Selva got this offer immediately after the release of his "Thoongaa Vanam", which also starred Kamal. But Kamal became busy in his political career, so Selva instead approached Vikram who agreed to act in the still-untitled film after being impressed with the story Selva narrated to him. Chandrahasan later died, therefore he could not produce the project.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: On 30 August 2018, Kamal officially announced the still-untitled film which he would produce with Selva directing, while Vikram, Akshara Haasan, and Abi Hassan would star. Srinivas R. Gutha was announced as the cinematographer, while Praveen K. L. joined as editor. The film, which was co-produced by R. Ravindran of Trident Arts, began filming on the same day. The film's title "Kadaram Kondan" and first look poster were revealed on 6 November, the eve of Kamal's birthday. The film was shot in Kuala Lumpur for a month, where the shooting schedule ended in late November. Principal photography ended on 9 January 2019, with the exception of a song sequence and "a few patch works".


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: The soundtrack is composed by Ghibran, continuing his association with the director and Kamal after "Thoongaa Vanam". The music rights were bought by Muzik 247.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: According to trade estimates, the Kadaram Kondan collection managed to rake in Rs 50 crore in the opening weekend at the box office.


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: M. Suganth of "The Times of India" wrote, "The action scenes make Kadaram Kondan a visceral experience, even though Rajesh Selva’s filmmaking falls short on flair. As long as we get a chase or a shootout, the film feels thrilling enough. It is only in the quieter moments, like the initial scenes that set up the story, that get us restless. Thankfully, Ghibran’s energetic wall-to-wall score lends the film momentum. And Vikram ensures that we don’t leave disappointed".


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Srivatsan S of "The Hindu" wrote, "A ‘time bomb’ narrative that takes a while to explode. But when it does, it's a smart guessing game".


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: "India Today" reviewer Kirubhakar Purushothaman rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Kadaram Kondan is a decent entertainer if one is ready to overlook a few silly contrivances and over-the-top heroism".


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Baradwaj Rangan of "Film Companion" wrote, "We want a series of set pieces that tumble into one another with wit and elegance and heart-stopping precision. What we get is indifferently staged “scenes” that feel distant and disconnected. (The least you expect in these films is technique.)"


title: Kadaram Kondan

text: Although 90 per cent of the film was shot in Malaysia, it was not released there. According to Lotus Five Star, holder of the film's distribution and theatrical rights in Malaysia, the film was banned per orders of LPF (Film Censorship Board of Malaysia) due to the story's portrayal of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) in a negative light and for portraying police officers as corrupt and for scenes which supposedly inaccurately and misleadingly represent the police force. In addition, the makers of the film failed to get necessary police permits to shoot scenes in Malaysia; the Malaysian law requires that film production receives permission from the relevant authorities such as FINAS, PUSPAL and others before shooting.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations that emphasizes the role of power politics in international relations, sees competition and conflict as enduring features and sees limited potential for cooperation. The anarchic state of the international system means that states cannot be certain of other states' intentions and their security, thus prompting them to engage in power politics.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: It was first outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book "Theory of International Politics". Alongside neoliberalism, neorealism is one of the two most influential contemporary approaches to international relations; the two perspectives dominated international relations theory from the 1960s to the 1990s.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealism emerged from the North American discipline of political science, and reformulates the classical realist tradition of E. H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, George Kennan and Reinhold Niebuhr. Neorealism is subdivided into defensive and offensive neorealism.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealism is an ideological departure from Hans Morgenthau's writing on classical realism. Classical realism originally explained the machinations of international politics as being based on human nature and therefore subject to the ego and emotion of world leaders. Neorealist thinkers instead propose that structural constraints—not strategy, egoism, or motivation—will determine behavior in international relations. John Mearsheimer made significant distinctions between his version of offensive neorealism and Waltz in his book titled "The Tragedy of Great Power Politics".


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Structural realism holds that the nature of the international structure is defined by its ordering principle (anarchy), units of the system (states), and by the distribution of capabilities (measured by the number of great powers within the international system), with only the last being considered an independent variable with any meaningful change over time. The anarchic ordering principle of the international structure is decentralized, meaning there is no formal central authority; every sovereign state is formally equal in this system. These states act according to the logic of egoism, meaning states seek their own interest and will not subordinate their interest to the interests of other states.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: States are assumed at a minimum to want to ensure their own survival as this is a prerequisite to pursue other goals. This driving force of survival is the primary factor influencing their behavior and in turn ensures states develop offensive military capabilities for foreign interventionism and as a means to increase their relative power. Because states can never be certain of other states' future intentions, there is a lack of trust between states which requires them to be on guard against relative losses of power which could enable other states to threaten their survival. This lack of trust, based on uncertainty, is called the security dilemma.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: States are deemed similar in terms of needs but not in capabilities for achieving them. The positional placement of states in terms of abilities determines the distribution of capabilities. The structural distribution of capabilities then limits cooperation among states through fears of relative gains made by other states, and the possibility of dependence on other states. The desire and relative abilities of each state to maximize relative power constrain each other, resulting in a 'balance of power', which shapes international relations. It also gives rise to the 'security dilemma' that all nations face. There are two ways in which states balance power: internal balancing and external balancing. Internal balancing occurs as states grow their own capabilities by increasing economic growth and/or increasing military spending. External balancing occurs as states enter into alliances to check the power of more powerful states or alliances.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealism sees states as "black boxes," as the structure of the international system is emphasized rather than the units and their unique characteristics within it as being casual.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealists contend that there are essentially three possible systems according to changes in the distribution of capabilities, defined by the number of great powers within the international system. A unipolar system contains only one great power, a bipolar system contains two great powers, and a multipolar system contains more than two great powers. Neorealists conclude that a bipolar system is more stable (less prone to great power war and systemic change) than a multipolar system because balancing can only occur through internal balancing as there are no extra great powers with which to form alliances. Because there is only internal balancing in a bipolar system, rather than external balancing, there is less opportunity for miscalculations and therefore less chance of great power war. That is a simplification and a theoretical ideal.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealist argue that processes of emulation and competition lead states to behave in the aforementioned ways. Emulation leads states to adopt the behaviors of successful states (for example, those victorious in war), whereas competition leads states to vigilantly ensure their security and survival through the best means possible. Due to the anarchic nature of the international system and the inability of states to rely on other states or organizations, states have to engage in "self-help."


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: For neorealists, social norms are considered largely irrelevant. This is in contrast to some classical realists which did see norms as potentially important. Neorealists are also skeptical of the ability of international organizations to act independently in the international system and facilitate cooperation between states.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Structural realism has become divided into two branches, defensive and offensive realism, following the publication of Mearsheimer's 'The Tragedy of Great Power Politics' in 2001. Waltz's original formulation of neorealism is now sometimes called defensive realism, while Mearsheimer's modification of the theory is referred to as offensive realism. Both branches agree that the structure of the system is what causes states to compete, but defensive realism posits that most states concentrate on maintaining their security (i.e. states are security maximizers), while offensive realism claims that all states seek to gain as much power as possible (i.e. states are power maximizers). A foundational study in the area of defensive realism is Robert Jervis' classic 1978 article on the "security dilemma." It examines how uncertainty and the offense-defense balance may heighten or soften the security dilemma. Building on Jervis, Stephen Van Evera explores the causes of war from a defensive realist perspective.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Offensive realism, developed by Mearsheimer differs in the amount of power that states desire. Mearsheimer proposes that states maximize relative power ultimately aiming for regional hegemony.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: In addition to Mearsheimer, a number of other scholars have sought to explain why states expand when opportunities to do so arise. For instance, Randall Schweller refers to states' revisionist agendas to account for their aggressive military action. Eric Labs investigates the expansion of war aims during wartime as an example of offensive behavior. Fareed Zakaria analyzes the history of US foreign relations from 1865 to 1914 and asserts that foreign interventions during this period were not motivated by worries about external threats but by a desire to expand US influence.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: While neorealists agree that the structure of the international relations is the primary impetus in seeking security, there is disagreement among neorealist scholars as to whether states merely aim to survive or whether states want to maximize their relative power. The former represents the ideas of Kenneth Waltz, while the latter represents the ideas of John Mearsheimer and offensive realism.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Other debates include the extent to which states balance against power (in Waltz's original neorealism and classic realism), versus the extent to which states balance against threats (as introduced in Stephen Walt's 'The Origins of Alliances' (1987)), or balance against competing interests (as introduced in Randall Schweller's 'Deadly Imbalances' (1998)).


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neorealists conclude that because war is an effect of the anarchic structure of the international system, it is likely to continue in the future. Indeed, neorealists often argue that the ordering principle of the international system has not fundamentally changed from the time of Thucydides to the advent of nuclear warfare. The view that long-lasting peace is not likely to be achieved is described by other theorists as a largely pessimistic view of international relations. One of the main challenges to neorealist theory is the democratic peace theory and supporting research, such as the book "Never at War". Neorealists answer this challenge by arguing that democratic peace theorists tend to pick and choose the definition of democracy to achieve the desired empirical result. For example, the Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Dominican Republic of Juan Bosch, and the Chile of Salvador Allende are not considered to be "democracies of the right kind" or the conflicts do not qualify as wars according to these theorists. Furthermore, they claim several wars between democratic states have been averted only by causes other than ones covered by democratic peace theory.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Advocates of democratic peace theory see the spreading of democracy as helping to mitigate the effects of anarchy. With enough democracies in the world, Bruce Russett thinks that it "may be possible in part to supersede the 'realist' principles (anarchy, the security dilemma of states) that have dominated practice since at least the seventeenth century." John Mueller believes that it is not the spreading of democracy but rather other conditions (e.g., power) that bring about democracy and peace. In consenting with Mueller's argument, Kenneth Waltz notes that "some of the major democracies—Britain in the nineteenth century and the United States in the twentieth century—have been among the most powerful states of their eras."


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: One of the most notable schools contending with neorealist thought, aside from neoliberalism, is the constructivist school, which is often seen to disagree with the neorealist focus on power and instead emphasises a focus on ideas and identity as an explanatory point for international relations trends. Recently, however, a school of thought called the English School merges neo-realist tradition with the constructivist technique of analyzing social norms to provide an increasing scope of analysis for international relations.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Neo-realism has been criticized from various directions. Other major paradigms of international relations scholarship, such as Liberal, Constructivist and Rationalist approaches have criticized neorealist scholarship in terms of theory and empirics. Within realism, classical realists and neoclassical realists have also challenged some aspects of neorealism.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: Among the issues that neorealism has been criticized over is the neglect of domestic politics, race, gains from trade, the pacifying effects of institutions, and the relevance of regime type for foreign policy behavior.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: David Strang argues that neorealist prediction fail to account for transformations in sovereignty over time and across regions. These transformations in sovereignty have had implications for cooperation and competition, as polities that were recognized as sovereign have seen considerable greater stability.


title: Neorealism (international relations)

text: In response to criticisms that neorealism lacks relevance for contemporary international policy and does a poor job explaining the foreign policy behavior of major powers, Charles Glaser wrote in 2003, "this is neither surprising nor a serious problem, because scholars who use a realist lens to understand international politics can, and have, without inconsistency or contradiction also employed other theories to understand issues that fall outside realism's central focus."


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (, or more commonly, as the「大运河」("Grand Canal")), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, but the various sections were first connected during the Sui dynasty (581–618 AD). Dynasties in 1271–1633 significantly restored and rebuilt the canal and altered its route to supply their capital. The Grand Canal played a major role in reunifying north and south China. The canal was built by conscripted laborers and connected the Yellow River in the north with the Yangtze River in the south, which made it much easier to transport grain from the south to the centers of political and military power in north China.


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: The total length of the Grand Canal is . Its greatest height is reached in the mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m (138 ft). Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue. The canal has been admired by many throughout history including Japanese monk Ennin (794–864), Persian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504), and Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: Historically, periodic flooding of the Yellow River threatened the safety and functioning of the canal. During wartime, the high dikes of the Yellow River were sometimes deliberately broken in order to flood and thus sweep away advancing enemy troops. This would cause disaster and prolonged economic hardships for local residents. Despite temporary periods of desolation and disuse, the Grand Canal furthered an indigenous and growing economic market in China's urban centers from the Sui period onwards to the present. It has allowed faster trading and has thus improved China's economy. The portion south of the Yellow River remains in heavy use by barges carrying bulk materials and containers.


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: In the late Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), Fuchai, King of the State of Wu (whose capital was in present-day Suzhou), ventured north to attack the State of Qi. He ordered a canal to be constructed for trading purposes, as well as a means to ship ample supplies north in case his forces should engage the northern states of Song and Lu. This canal became known as the Han Gou (邗溝, "Han Conduit"). Work began in 486 BCE, from south of Yangzhou to north of Huai'an in Jiangsu, and within three years the Han Gou had connected the Yangtze with the Huai River utilizing existing waterways, lakes, and marshes.


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: The Han Gou is known as the second oldest section of the later Grand Canal since the Hong Gou ( "Hónggōu", "Canal of the Wild Geese" or "Far-Flung Canal") most likely preceded it. It linked the Yellow River near Kaifeng to the Si and Bian rivers and became the model for the shape of the Grand Canal in the north. The exact date of the Hong Gou's construction is uncertain; it is first mentioned by the diplomat Su Qin in 330 BCE when discussing state boundaries. The historian Sima Qian (145–90 BCE) knew of no historical date for it, placing his discussion of it just after the legendary works of Yu the Great; modern scholars now consider it to belong to the 6th century BCE.


title: Grand Canal (China)

text: The sections of the Grand Canal today in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu provinces were in large part a creation of the Sui dynasty (581–618), a result of the migration of China's core economic and agricultural region away from the Yellow River valley in the north and toward the southern provinces. Its main role throughout its history was the transport of grain to the capital. The institution of the Grand Canal by the Qin dynasty and the Sui dynasty, mostly the Sui, also obviated the need for the army to become self-sufficient farmers while posted at the northern frontier, as food supplies could now easily be shipped from south to north over the pass.