title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 6 talks about how the Romans went about making war. He claims that their goal for war was to be short and massive.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 7 talks about how much land the Romans gave per Colonist. He claims that this would be tough to determine because it depended on the places where they sent the colonists.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 8 discusses the cause why peoples leave their ancestral places and inundate the country of others. He blames it either on famine or on war that has taken over their land and they must move on to something new.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 9 he talks about what factors commonly cause wars. He says there are many different reasons for disputes.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 10 talks about how the common opinion of money being the sinew of war is actually incorrect. Faith and benevolence of men is what makes war what it is.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 11 talks about the idea that becoming friends with a Prince who has more reputation than force is not something that would go unnoticed. People were looking for good connections, and the prince who has a better reputation is better off than the one with better force.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 12 talks about whether it is better to wait to be attacked if you feel it is coming, or if you should make the first move.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 13 talks about how a person comes from base to great fortune more through fraud than through force. He thinks that fraud makes it quicker and easier for a person to succeed, so force is not needed as much.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 14 talks about how men confuse themselves into believing that through humility, they will conquer pride. Claims that humility and pride are two separate things and do not go hand in hand.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 15 claims that the resolutions of weak states will always be ambiguous, and that slow decisions, no matter who or what is making them, are always hurtful.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 16 talks about how much the soldiers of his time did not conform to the ancient orders. Values and ideologies were being lost, and soldiers just were not the same as they used to be.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 17 talks about how much artillery should be esteemed by armies in the present times, and whether the opinion universally held of it is true. Many different opinions are voiced in the chapter, and each has a valid argument to go along with it.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 18 talks about how the Authority of the Romans and by the example of the ancient military infantry should be esteemed more than the horse. Claimed that the military esteemed the military on foot much more than military on horseback.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 19 talks about how the acquisitions by Republics that are not well ordered and that do not proceed according to Roman virtue are for their ruin, not their exaltation. Chapter talks in detail about the different outlooks people have.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 20 talks about and asks what danger the prince or republic runs that avails itself of Auxiliary or mercenary military. Says that having these services admits you are weak and is not something that is necessarily respectable.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 21 says the first praetor the Romans sent anyplace was to Capua, four hundred years after they began making war. Claims that the Romans were changing things and were acting differently from past precedents.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 22 talks about how false the opinions of men often are in judging great things. Says that the best men are treated poorly during the quiet times because of envy or from other ambitions.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 23 talks about how much the Romans, in judging subjects for some accidents that necessitated such judgment, fled from the middle way (which he criticizes) in regards to punishments.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 24 claims that fortresses are generally much more harmful than useful. They did not build fortresses to protect them because they were of another virtue to that of building them.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 25 says to assault a disunited city so as to seize it by means of its disunion is a contradictory policy.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 26 claims vilification and abuse generate hatred against those who use them, without any utility to them. He is saying that the abuse that men do to women is something that brings hatred not only from the victim, but from everyone who hears about it as well.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 27 says for prudent princes and republics, it should be enough to conquer, for most often when it is not enough, one loses. He is saying that people should be happy with what they get, because if they try to get more than they can handle, they end up losing it all.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 28 says how dangerous it is for a Republic or a Prince not to avenge an injury done against the public or against a private person.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 29 claims that fortune blinds the spirits of men when it does not wish them to oppose its plans. This means that fate will take its toll on what men do and do not do.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 30 says that truly powerful Republics and Princes buy friendships not with money, but with virtue and reputation of strength.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 31 talks about how dangerous it is to believe the banished. He is talking about how there should be no circumstances in which someone should believe another individual who has been kicked out of the country. Clearly they did wrong, and one does not need that kind of negative influence in one's life.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 32 talks about how many modes the Romans seized towns. He talks about the different advantages to seizing towns in different ways, both weighing the pros and cons such as cost and efficiency.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 33 talks about how the Romans gave free commissions to their captains of armies. They valued these men and what they did so much that they were willing to give free commissions in order to show them how they felt about them.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 1 of Book 3 starts with a heading: "If one wishes a sect or republic to live long, it is necessary to draw it back often towards its beginning." Machiavelli admits that "all worldly things" have a natural ending. If any of these worldly things are altered and changed from its normal course, "it is for its safety and not to its harm." Machiavelli, however, desires to talk about exceptions to this rule, "...mixed bodies, such as republics and sections". For these things, "alterations are for safety that lead them back toward their beginnings." He is referring to the state of a republic when he ends the first paragraph, declaring that, "...it is a thing clearer than light that these bodies do not last if they do not renew themselves." Since a republic must be led towards its beginning, "all the beginnings of sects, republics, and kingdoms must have some goodness in them, by means of which they must regain their reputation and their first increase." If that goodness is ever corrupted, "unless something intervenes to lead it back to the mark, it of necessary kills that body." This return toward the beginning is done either through prudence from outside of the republic or from within the republic. Machiavelli cites an example from Roman history: when the Gauls, referring to them as the French, sacked Rome in 387 BC. He believes that the Gauls' aggression was necessary, "if one wished that that it be reborn and, by being reborn, regain new life and new virtue, and regain the observance of religion and justice, which were beginning to be tainted in it." He refers to the period before the sacking, when the Roman tribunes were given consular power and "they did not observe any religious ceremony." Romans had lost sight of "the other good institutions ordered by Romulus and by other prudent princes than was reasonable and necessary to maintain their free way of life." In Machiavelli's opinion, the sacking of Rome was deserved since the Romans had lost sight of all the things their forefathers had told them to follow. Machiavelli, in fact, refers to Gaul's attack on Rome as an "external beating". The usage of that phrase puts the event in a punitive light, as if Rome is a disobedient child being beat back into shape. This event was necessary "so that all the orders of the city might be regained and that it might be shown to that people that it was necessary not only to maintain religion and justice but also to esteem its good citizens and to take more account of their virtue than of these advantages that it appeared to them they lacked through their works." According to Machiavelli, "this good emerges in republics either through the virtue of a man or through the virtue of an order." Later on Machiavelli states that it is not preferable to have renewal carried out by an external force as "it is so dangerous that it is not in any way to be desired." In the Roman Republic, "the orders that drew the Roman republic back toward its beginning were the tribunes of the plebs, the censors, and all the other laws that went against the ambition and the insolence of men." Before the taking of Rome by the Gauls, the executions of such famous Romans as "the sons of Brutus" or "that of Maelius the grain dealer", because they were "excessive and notable" drew Romans back from any dangerous or tumultuous behavior. Machiavelli reasons that "Unless something arises by which punishment is brought back to their memory and fear is renewed in their spirits, soon so many delinquents join together that they can no longer be punished without danger." He relates this to his native Florence, where "from 1434 up to 1494", such things were done "to regain the state...otherwise, it was difficult to maintain it." Machiavelli then asserts that "this drawing back of republics toward their beginning arises also from the simple virtue of one man, without depending on any law law that stimulates you to any execution." He gives examples of particularly great Romans like Horatius Coclus and Gaius Mucius Scaevola who were "of such reputation and so much example that good men desire to imitate them and the wicked are ashamed to hold a life contrary to them." Machiavelli venerates these Romans much like their countrymen did. Machiavelli then turns his attention toward the renewal of sects, arguing that "...our religion, which would be altogether eliminated if it had not been drawn back toward its beginning by Saint Francis and Saint Dominick." "For with poverty and with the example of the life of Christ they brought back into the minds of men what had already been eliminated there."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Machiavelli begins Chapter 2 declaring that, "There was never anyone so prudent nor esteemed so wise for any eminent work of his than Junius Brutus deserves to be held in his simulation of stupidity." He is referring to the way in which Brutus removed the Tarquins from Rome "to live more securely and to maintain his patrimony..." Machiavelli believes that "From his example all those who are discontented with a prince have to learn: they should first measure and first weigh their forces, and if they are so powerful that they can expose themselves as his enemies and make war on him openly, they should enter on this way, as less dangerous and more honorable. But if they are such quality that their forces are not enough for making open war, they should seek with all industry to make themselves friends to him..." Machiavelli describes a middle path where you can enjoy the fortunes of the prince you have become familiar with, but not fall into ruin should he encounter it; one keeps his distance but also quite close. Machiavelli believes this to be impossible, however, stating that "one must be reduced to the two modes written above—that is, either distance oneself from or to bind oneself to them. Whoever does otherwise, if he is a man notable for his quality, lives in continual danger." Machiavelli concludes the chapter, writing, "Thus one must play crazy, like Brutus, and make oneself very much mad, praising, speaking, seeing, doing things against your intent so as to please the prince."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 3 states "That it is necessary to kill the sons of Brutus if one wishes to maintain a newly acquired freedom." He refers to the episode where Brutus sentenced his own sons to death when they entered into a plot to restore the Tarquin dynasty, Machiavelli writes that, "...after a change of state, either from republic to tyranny or from tyranny to republic, a memorable execution against the enemies of present conditions is necessary. Whoever takes up a tyranny and does not kill Brutus, and whoever makes a free state and does not kill the sons of Brutus, maintains himself for little time." He compares it to an event in recent Florentine history when Piero Soderini, a Florentine statesman, was appointed gonfalonier (the highest rank in Florentine government) for life. Because of his inability to crush his enemies, Soderini would eventually go into exile. Machiavelli believes that since he did not know how to act like Brutus, and eliminate those who opposed the structure of the republic, he lost "not only his fatherland, but his state and his reputation."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading of Chapter 4 is, "A prince does not live secure in a principality while those who have been despoiled of it are living." Machiavelli begins the chapter citing Livy: "The death of Tarquin Priscus, caused by the sons of Ancus, and the death of Servius Tullius, caused by Tarquin the Proud, show how difficult and dangerous it is to despoil one individual of the kingdom and to leave him alive, even though on might seek to win him over by compensation." This event functions as advice to future princes, "every prince can be warned that he never lives secure in his principality as long as those who have been despoiled of it are living."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The topic of Chapter 5 is "What makes a king who is heir to a kingdom lose it." Machiavelli starts the chapter relating the story of Tarquin the Proud (also known as Lucius Tarquinius Superbus), the last king of Rome, "When Tarquin the Proud had killed Servius Tullius, and there were no heirs remaining of him, he came to possess the kingdom securely, since he did not have to fear those things that had offended his predecessors. Although the mode of seizing the kingdom had been extraordinary and hateful, nonetheless, if he had observed the ancient orders of the other kings, he would have been endured and would not have excited the senate and plebs against him so as to take the state away from him." Tarquin's tyranny over the people of Rome would lead to his overthrow and incredibly negative status in Roman history. From Tarquin's example can modern princes learn how to run their kingdom: "Thus princes may know that they begin to lose their state at the hour they begin to break the laws and those modes and those customs that are ancient, under which men have lived a long time." It is in a prince's interests to rule well for "when men are governed well they do not seek or wish for any other freedom."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 6, the longest chapter in the book, pertains to conspiracies. Machiavelli believes that the danger of conspiracy must be raised as "many more princes are seen to have lost their lives and states through these than by open war. For to be able to make open war on a prince is granted to few; to be able to conspire against them is granted to everyone." He cites the verdict of Cornelius Tacitus as someone everyone should fellow, as it says that "men have to honor past things and obey present ones; and they should desire good princes and tolerate them, however they may be made. And truly, whoever does otherwise, most often ruins himself and his fatherland." Machiavelli immediately makes it clear that "the prince who has excited this universal hatred against himself has particular individuals who have been more offended by him and whose desire to avenge themselves." Much like how in Chapter 5, there is incentive to being a good ruler. Machiavelli writes that "property and honor are two things that offend men more than any other offense, from which the prince should guard himself." Of honors taken away from men, women are incredibly important. He cites an example in modern Italy of when Giulio Belanti moved against Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Sienna, after his daughter had been stolen to be made Pandolfo's wife. Another motivator for conspiracy is when a man feels the desire to free his fatherland from whoever has seized it. This was primarily what drove Brutus and Cassius to conspire against Caesar. Machiavelli gives examples of how any man can create a conspiracy, ranging from the nobleman who assassinated King Philip of Macedon to the Spanish peasant who stabbed King Ferdinand in the neck." He asserts that "all conspiracies are made by great men of those very familiar to the prince." Though any man can lead a conspiracy, only great men can perfectly execute it. Dangers are found in conspiracies at three times: before, in the deed, and after. Machiavelli writes that when a conspiracy has been exposed, it takes a great man to surrender only himself and not his fellow conspirators. The modern examples of these kind men are few, but Machiavelli cites Livy's example of "the conspiracy made against Hieronymus, king of Syracuse, in which Theodorus, one of the conspirators, was taken and with great virtue concealed all the conspirators and accused the friends of the king". Another example from Roman history Machiavelli raises is the Pisonian conspiracy against Nero. He then takes examples of conspiracy to his own time, writing of the conspiracy of the Pazzi against Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. Failure to execute a conspiracy results only from the executor's own cowardice and lack of spirit. According to Machiavelli, an example can be found in Livy's writings when "after Marius had been taken by the Minturnans, a slave was sent to kill him, who, frightened by the presence of that man and by the memory of his name, became cowardly and lost all force for killing him." He establishes that "conspiracies that are made against the fatherland are less dangerous for the ones who make them than those against princes."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The topic for Chapter 7 summarizes the entire entry: "Whence it arises that changes from freedom to servitude and from servitude to freedom are some of them without blood, some of them full of it." Machiavelli cites the bloodless expulsion of the Tarquins from Ancient Rome and from his own period, the expulsion of the Medici family in 1494, as examples of such nonviolent changes.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading of Chapter 8 is, "Whoever wishes to alter a republic should consider its subject." Machiavelli begins Chapter 8 stating that "...a wicked citizen cannot work for ill in a republic that is not corrupt." He cites the example of the Romans Spurius Cassius and Manlius Capitolinus. Spurius's hopes to win over the Plebs with gifts were dashed when they refused him, knowing that it would cost them their freedom. If the Plebs had been wicked, they would have accepted Spurius's tyranny. Camillus was another man who misunderstood the Roman people. Machiavelli concludes that "Two things are to be considered here: one, that one has to seek glory in a corrupt city by modes other than in one that still lives politically; the other (which is almost the same as the first), that men in their proceedings—and so much the more in great actions—should consider the times and accommodate themselves to them."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 9 concerns "How one must vary with the times if one wishes always to have good fortune." Machiavelli writes, "I have often considered that the cause of the bad and of the good fortune of men is the matching of the mode of one's proceeding with the times." He continues, saying that "...he comes to err less and to have prosperous fortune who matches the time with his mode...and always proceeds as nature forces you." Machiavelli gives the example of Quintus Fabius Maximus, who was able to turn the tides of the Punic Wars "with his slowness and caution." His behavior matched the state of the Roman republic and its army at the time. He raises the example of Piero Soderini again, who "proceeded in all his affairs with humanity and patience. He and his fatherland prospered while the times were comfortable to the mode of proceeding; but as times came later when he needed to break with patience and humility, he did not know how to do it, so that he together with his fatherland were ruined."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 10 pertains to the fact that "a captain cannot flee battle when the adversary wishes him to engage in it in any mode." Machiavelli refers to those princes or republics who send out others to represent them in war as "effeminate." He believes that these republics and princes are following the footsteps of Fabius Maximus, "who in deferring combat saved the state for the Romans." They misinterpret this great Roman's deed, however, as according to Machiavelli, it "is nothing other than to say:'Do battle to the enemy's purpose and not yours.'" If one hides in his city, far from the field of battle, he "leaves one's country as prey to the enemy." If one hides within the city with his army, they will be besieged, starved, and forced to surrender. Machiavelli's next point is that "one ought to wish to acquire glory even when losing; and one has more glory in being conquered by force than through another inconvenience that has made you lose."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Machiavelli begins Chapter 11 explaining the considerable power to the tribunes of the plebs (or "of the people"): "The power of the tribunes of the plebs in the city of Rome was great, and it was necessary, as had been discoursed of by us many times, because otherwise one would not have been able to place a check on the ambition of the nobility, which would have corrupted that republic a long time before it did corrupt itself." The Tribunes worked together with many other Romans to overthrow those who sought to corrupt the Republic. Machiavelli concludes from the Roman example that "...whenever there are many powers united against another power, even though all together are much more powerful, nonetheless, one ought always to put more hope in that one alone, who is less mighty, than in the many, even though very mighty." Machiavelli desires to talk about modern examples, however; he brings up when, in 1483, all the Italian states declared war on Venice. When they could no longer field an army, they corrupted the duke of Milan and were able to regain any towns they had lost and part of the state of Ferrara.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 12 states, "That a prudent captain ought to impose every necessity to engage in combat on his soldiers and take it away from those of enemies." According to Machiavelli, this is an important duty for the captain of any army. In the second paragraph, Machiavelli states, "when he assaults a town, a captain ought to contrive with all diligence to lift such necessity from its defenders, and in consequence such obstinacy—if they have fear of punishment, he promises pardon, and if they had fear for their freedom. he shows he does not go against the common good but against the ambitious few in the city, which has many times made campaigns and captures of towns easier." From Livy's writing, Machiavelli cites an example when Camillus, already inside of the city of the Veientes with his army, commanded, loud enough for the inhabitants to hear him, that no one should hurt those who are unarmed.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 13 begins with a question: "Which is more to be trusted, a good captain who has a weak army or a good army that has a weak captain." Machiavelli's raises the story of Coriolanus, a Roman exile who transformed the conquered Volusci into a functional fighting force. There have also been moments in Roman history when an army has performed better after the deaths of their consuls. At the end of the chapter, Machiavelli asserts that "a captain who has time to instruct men and occasion to arm them is very much more to be trusted than an insolent army with a head made tumultuously by it."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 14 concerns "What effects new inventions that appear in the middle of the fight and new voices that are heard may produce." Machiavelli cites the example of Quintius, who "seeing one of the wings of his army bending, began to cry out loudly that it should stand steady because the other wing of the army was victorious, and—this word having given spirit to his men and terrified the enemy—he won." This chapter concerns sudden events that may happen in the midst of heated battle. According to Machiavelli, "...a good captain among his other orders ought to order whoever are those who have to pick up his voice and relay it to others, and accustom his soldiers not to believe any but them and his captains not say anything but what has been commissioned by him." Such actions would control the morale of the army.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 15's topic is "That one individual and not many should be put over an army; and that several commanders hurt." Machiavelli references an incident in Roman history when the Romans created four tribunes with consular power to control the colony of Fidenae. "They left one of them for the guarding of Rome and sent three against the Fidantes and the Veientes. Because they were divided among themselves and disunited, they brought back dishonor and not harm."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 16 pertains to "That in difficult times one goes to find true; and in easy times not virtuous men but those with riches or kinship have more favour." Machiavelli writes that "It has always been, and will always be, that great and rare men are neglected in a republic in peaceful times." He continues with this point, referencing Nicias of Athens: "For while Athens was at peace, he knew that there were infinite citizens who wished to go ahead of him; but if war was made, he knew that no citizen would be superior or equal to him." Nicias was against the Athenian invasion of Sicily during the Peloponnesian War since he believed Athens was already on the verge of victory; the spectacular failure of the invasion changed the tide of the war. He relates this belief to a moment in Florentine history; when, in 1494, "the city came upon one individual who showed how armies have to be commanded, who was Antonio Giacomini. While dangerous wars had to be made, all the ambition of the other citizens ceased, and in the choice of commissioner and head of the armies he had no competitor..."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: At the beginning of Chapter 17, Machiavelli asserts that "A republic ought to consider very much not putting someone over any important administration to whom any notable injury had been done by another." He brings up the consul Claudius Nero, who "throughout the city he was spoken of indecently, not without great dishonor and indignation for him."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 19 declares that "Nothing is more worthy of a captain than to foretell the policies of the enemy." Close to the end of the Roman civil war between Brutus and Cassius and Marc Antony and Octavian, Brutus won the battle on his wing but Cassius believed that Brutus had actually lost. Thinking the battle to be all but over, Cassius killed himself. Machiavelli relates the point of Chapter 19 to a moment in modern history; when, in 1498, Florence went to war with Venice and was able to predict the enemy army's movements and win the war.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 19, Machiavelli states that "it appears in governing a multitude, it is better to be humane rather than proud, merciful rather than cruel."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 20 concerns the story of Camillus when he was besieging the city of the Falsci. A schoolmaster of the noblest children of the city ventured out and offered the children to the Roman camp. Camillus refused the offer, and after binding the hands of the schoolmaster, gave rods to each of the children and escorted them back into the city while they beat him. When the Falsci heard of Camillus's good act, they willfully surrendered the city without putting up a fight. Machiavelli concludes from the story that "Here it is to be considered with this true example how much more a humane act full of charity is sometimes able to do in the spirits of men than a ferocious and violent act..."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 21 is titled "Whence it arises that with a different mode of proceeding Hannibal produced those same effects in Italy as Scipio did in Spain." When the Roman Scipio Africanus entered Spain, his humanity and mercy immediately made the entire province friendly to him. In a similar manner, when Hannibal marched through Italy, many cities rebelled and followed him. Machiavelli believes such things occurred because "men are desirous of new things, so much that most often those who are well off desire newness as much as those who are badly off...this desire makes the doors open to everyone who makes himself head of an innovation in a province." Eventually both leaders were rejected by the people who had once accepted them in these provinces.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 22 is titled "That the hardness of Manlius Torquatus and the kindness of Valerius Corvinus acquired for each the same glory." Machiavelli begins the chapter relating the story of "two excellent captains in Rome at one and the same time, Manlius Torquatus and Valerius Corvinus. They lived in Rome with like virtue, with like triumphs and glory, and each of them, in what pertained to the enemy, acquired it with like virtue; but in what belonged to the armies and to their dealings with the soldiers, they proceeded very diversely. For Manlius commanded his soldiers with every kind of severity...Valerius, on the other hand, dealt with them with every humane mode and means and full of a familiar domesticity." As one can assume from the title, two very different men achieved very similar glory. Later on, Machiavelli asserts that "to command strong things one must be strong; and he who is of this strength and who commands them cannot then make them observed with mildness. But whoever is not of this strength of spirit ought to guard himself from extraordinary commands and can use his humanity in ordinary ones..." He concludes the chapter stating that the behavior of Manlius and Valerius fit specific needs: "the proceedings of Valerius is useful in a prince and pernicious in a citizen, not only to the fatherland but to himself: to it, because those modes prepare the way for tyranny; to himself, because in suspecting his mode of proceeding, his city is constrained to secure itself against him to his harm. So by the contrary I affirm that the proceeding of Manlius is harmful in a prince and useful in a citizen, and especially to the fatherland..."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 23 concerns "For what cause Camillus was expelled from Rome." According to Machiavelli, "Titus Livy brings up these causes of the hatred: first, that he applied to the public the money that was drawn from the goods of the Veientes that were sold and did not divide it as booty; another, that in the triumph, he had his triumphal chariot pulled by four white horses, from which they said that because of his pride he wished to be equal to the sun; third, that he made a vow to Apollo the tenth part of the booty of the Veientes..." When the people were denied their part of the loot, they rebelled against Camillus.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Referring to the Roman Republic, Machiavelli begins Chapter 24 establishing that "...two things were the cause of the dissolution of that republic: one was the contentions that arose from Agrarian law; the other, the prolongation of commands. If these things had been known well from the beginning, and proper remedies produced for them, a free way of life would have been longer and perhaps quieter." If one was to decipher Machiavelli's statement into modern terms, he believes that bureaucracy and inefficiency resulted in the demise of the Roman Republic.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 25. Machiavelli states that "the most useful thing that may be ordered in a free way of life is that the citizens be kept poor." He recalls the story of the great Cincinnatus, who, when the Rome was in grave danger, was made dictator by the Senate and saved the Republic. When the battle was over, he surrendered his power and returned to his small villa. His humbleness or "poverty" became something future Romans tried to emulate. Machiavelli concludes the chapter writing, "One could show with a long speech how much better fruits poverty produced than riches, and how the one has honored cities, provinces, sects, and the other has ruined them..."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 26's title is "How a State is ruined because of women." He summarizes his own thoughts close to the end of the chapter: "In this text are several things to be noted. First, one sees that women have been causes of much ruin, and have done great harm to those who govern a city, and have caused many divisions in them." He raises the example of Lucretia, whose rape by Tarquin the Proud's son ultimately led the exile of the Tarquin family from Rome and destruction of the Roman monarchy.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 27 concerns "How one has to unite a divided city; and how that opinion is not true that to hold cities one needs to hold them divided." Referring to when the Romans handled tumult the leaders of a divided city they had recently conquered (Ardea), Machiavelli believes that there are three possible ways to handle the leaders of rebellion within a held city: "...either to kill them, as they did; or to remove them from the city; or to make them make peace together under obligations not to offend one another." Machiavelli relates this belief to when, in his own times, Florence conquered the city of Pistoia. The Florentine rulers tried all 3 methods when handling the feuding houses of the city. He establishes that it is impossible to rule a divided city.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 28 states that "One should be mindful of the works of citizens because many times underneath a merciful work a beginning of tyranny is concealed." Machiavelli relates it to a moment in Roman history when there was considerable famine and the wealthy man Spurius Maelius planned to distribute grain to win over the favour of the Plebs. Maelius planned to become dictator with this favor but was executed by the senate before he could do so.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 29's topic is "That the sins of peoples arise from princes." Machiavelli establishes that "Princes should not complain of any sin that the people whom they have to govern commit, for it must be that such sins arise either by negligence or by his being stained with like errors." A king should not punish his citizens for pillaging in war when he is himself a known pillager. Machiavelli relates this belief held by Roman rulers to a quote from Lorenzo de' Medici: "And that which the lord does, many do later; For all eyes are turned to the lord."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 30 pertains to how envy must be eliminated if a man wants to do good work in the republic, and that if one sees the enemy, he must order the defense of his city. In Rome's early history, envy between great Romans led to a dysfunction in the army and failures in war. Referring to envy, Machiavelli believes that "in many times that the cause that men cannot work well, since the said envy does not permit them to have the authority that is necessary to have in things of importance." Machiavelli does think this envy can be eliminated when "either through some strong and difficult accident in which each, seeing himself perishing, puts aside every ambition and runs voluntarily to obey him" or "...when, either by violence or by natural order, those who have been your competitors in coming to some reputation and to some greatness die."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 31 states "Strong republics and excellent men retain the same spirit and their same dignity in every fortune." If the leader of a republic is weak, then his republic will be weak. Machiavelli raises the modern example of the Venetians, whose good fortune created a sort of "insolence" that they failed to respect the powerful states around them and lost much of their territorial holdings. Machiavelli asserts that is necessary to have a strong military in order to have a state with "good laws or any other good thing ."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 32 concerns "what modes some have held to for disturbing a peace." Machiavelli cites several examples from the Punic Wars.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The heading for Chapter 33 asserts that "If one wishes to win a battle, it is necessary to make the army confident both among themselves and in the captain." Machiavelli lists out the methods to do so: "...that it be armed and ordered well, that [its members] know one another. Nor this confidence arise except in soldiers who have been born and lived together. The captain must esteemed of a quality that they trust in his prudence." Once an army trusts, they win.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 34 pertains to "What fame or word or opinion makes the people being to favor a citizen; and whether it distributes the magistracies with great prudence than a prince." Machiavelli brings up the example of Titus Manlius who, upon rescuing his father, the "filial piety" displayed inspired the people and led to Titus Manlius being put in second command of the tribunes of the legions.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 35 concerns "What dangers are borne in making oneself head in counseling a thing; and the more it has of the extraordinary, the greater are the dangers incurred in it." Machiavelli writes that "since men judging things by the end, all the ill that results from it is attributed to the author of the counsel; and if good results from it, he is commended for it, but the reward by far does not counterbalance the harm." He brings up the present story of the Sultan Selim who, after receiving faulty military advice and losing a great part of his army, killed the men who gave him this advice.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 36, Machiavelli tackles "The causes why the French have been are still judged in fights at the beginning as more than men and later as less than women." Machiavelli believes that this stereotype first arose in Livy's writings; when the Romans did battle with the Gauls. The Gauls were quick to start fights but in actual combat failed spectacularly. He writes that while the Roman army had fury and virtue, the army of the Gauls only had fury, which, more often than not, lead them into embarrassing battles.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 37, Machiavelli wonders "Whether small battles are necessary before the main battle; and if one wishes to avoid them, what one ought to do to know a new enemy." Pondering this question, Machiavelli writes, "For I consider, on one side, that a good captain ought altogether to avoid working for anything that is of small moment and can produce bad effects on his army: for to begin a fight in which all one's force are not at work and all one's fortune is risked is a thing altogether rash...On the other side, I consider that when wise captains come up against a new enemy who is reputed, before they come to the main battle they are necessitated to make trial of such enemies with light fight for their soldiers..."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 38, Machiavelli writes of "How a captain in whom his army can have confidence ought to be made." In a captain demanding of his troop to follow his deeds, not his words, there seems to be great success.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The topic of Chapter 39 is "That a captain ought to be a knower of sites." It is necessary for a captain to have knowledge of other countries.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 40, Machiavelli states, "Although the use of fraud in every action is detestable, nonetheless in managing war it is a praiseworthy and glorious thing, and he who overcomes the enemy with fraud is praised as much as the one who overcomes it with force." Fraud in war means fooling the enemy. He raises the story of Pontus, captain of the Samnites, who sent some of his soldiers in shepherds clothing to the Roman camp so that they could be lead them into an ambush where Pontus's army was waiting.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 41 establishes "That the fatherland ought to be defended, whether with ignominy or with glory; and it is well defended in any mode whatever."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 42 is quite short and can be summarized in its heading: "That promises made through force ought not to be observed."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 43 pertains to the fact that "Men who are born in one province observe almost the same nature for all times." The nature of things in the present is not much different than it was in Livy's time. According to Machiavelli, "Whoever reads of things past in our city of Florence and considers also those that have occurred in the nearest times will find German and French people full of avarice, pride, ferocity, and faithlessness, for all those four things have much offended our city in diverse times."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The point of Chapter 44 can be summarized in its heading: "One often obtains with impetuosity and audacity what one would never have obtained through ordinary modes." There is great reward to being ambitious in key moments like a battle.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 45, Machiavelli wonders, "What the better policy is in battles, to resist the thrust of enemies and, having resisted it, to charge them; or indeed to assault them with fury from the first." he raises the story of Decius and Fabius, two Roman consuls at war with the Samnites and Etruscans. They attacked the enemy in two entirely different manners, one slow and defensive, the other exhausting his army in a furious manner.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 46 concerns that "not only does one city have certain modes and institutions diverse from another, and procreates men either harder or more effeminate, but in the same city one sees such a difference to exist from one family to another." Machiavelli believes not to be the result of bloodline, but education.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Chapter 47 is incredibly short and can be summarized in its heading: "That a good citizen ought to forget private injuries for love of his fatherland."


title: Discourses on Livy

text: In Chapter 48, Machiavelli believes that "when one sees a great error made by an enemy, one ought to believe that there is deception underneath." He cites examples from both his own time, such as when Florence went to war with Pisa in 1508, and when Rome was at war with the Etruscans.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: The final chapter of Book 3 concerns the fact that "A republic has need of new acts of foresight every day if one wishes to maintain it free; and for what merits Quintus Fabius was called Maximus." Quintus Fabius was a Roman censor who took all the young Romans who failed to understand the basics of the Republic and "derived under four tribes, so that by being shut in such small spaces they could not corrupt all Rome. Due to the expediency of this fix, and the fact that it was well received by the people of Rome, he gained the name "Maximus".


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Francesco Guicciardini, Machiavelli's close friend and critic, read the book and wrote critical notes ("Considerazioni") on many of the chapters. He also objected to much of Machiavelli's advice, as he thought that many of his recommendations were too vicious, stating that:


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Violent remedies, though they make one safe from one aspect, yet from another ... involve all kinds of weaknesses. Hence the prince must take courage to use these extraordinary means when necessary, and should yet take care not to miss any chance which offers of establishing his cause with humanity, kindness, and rewards, not taking as an absolute rule what Machiavelli says, who was always extremely partial to extraordinary and violent methods.


title: Discourses on Livy

text: Jean-Jacques Rousseau considered the "Discourses" (as well as the "Florentine Histories") to be more representative of Machiavelli's true philosophy:


title: Ingmar Bergman filmography

text: Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish screenwriter and film director. Between 1944 and 2003 he directed 49 feature-length films, being 45 narrative films and 4 documentaries, as well as many short films. He also served as writer and producer for many other films.


title: Ingmar Bergman filmography

text: In addition to his work in film, Bergman was playwright and theatre director, and he simultaneously worked extensively in theatre throughout his film career.


title: John Bachar

text: John Bachar (March 23, 1957 – July 5, 2009) was an American rock climber. Noted for his skill at free soloing, he died during a free solo climb. A fitness fanatic, he was the creator of the climbing training device known as the Bachar ladder.


title: John Bachar

text: Bachar was born in 1957. He grew up in Los Angeles, California, and started climbing at the bouldering hot spot of Stoney Point in the northern San Fernando Valley. After attending Westchester High School, graduating in 1974, he attended UCLA, where his father was a math professor, but dropped out to climb full-time. Obsessed with the sport, he immersed himself in books on physical training and nutrition, and soon was able to outperform his fellow climbers. Fellow students at his high school remember him scaling the exterior high school gym walls on many occasions.


title: John Bachar

text: John Long, John Yablonski, Ron Kauk and Mike Graham, whom Bachar met in the early 1970s, all free soloed with him, starting with the classic Joshua Tree route "Double Cross" (5.7). He also put up notorious bouldering problems in Joshua Tree such as "Planet X" (V6) and "So High" (V5). The committing crux move of the latter problem is off the ground.


title: John Bachar

text: Bachar was first noted for his climbs in Yosemite with his unroped ascents of "New Dimensions" (5.11a) and "The Nabisco Wall", a three-pitch affair ("Waverly Wafer" (5.10c), either "Wheat Thin" (5.10c) or "Butterballs" (5.11c R), and "Butterfingers" (5.11a) as the final pitch). Noted for his physical fitness, his campsite at Camp 4 was filled with exercise equipment, including the hanging ladders since associated with his name. At his peak he was able to perform a two-finger pull-up with of weight in his other hand, and two-arm pull-up with over of weight strapped around his waist. While attempting the bouldering problem Midnight Lightning with Kauk and Yablonski in 1978, Bachar drew the iconic lightning bolt in chalk.


title: John Bachar

text: Along with Ron Kauk and John Long, Bachar was part of the team that free-climbed the East face of Washington Column, ushering in a new age of free climbing with their first free ascent of "Astroman". This route, containing numerous pitches of 5.10 and 5.11 difficulty, set a new standard for long and continuously difficult free climbs. He played a key role in making the first free ascent of the technical and difficult "boulder problem" pitch low on the route.


title: John Bachar

text: Bachar posted a note in 1981 promising a "$10,000 reward for anyone who can follow me for one full day." No one took the challenge. That same year he put up "Bachar-Yerian" (5.11c R/X) in Tuolumne Meadows with Dave Yerian. A heady testpiece, the vertical-to-gently-overhanging route is protected by 13 bolts (including anchor bolts), each one placed either from a stance (9) or while hanging from a hook (4). Bachar was a vocal critic of climbing tactics such as bolting on rappel, which came into vogue during the 1980s. However, at the time of the first ascent, there were critics of his decision to place certain bolts from hooks, rather than drilling and placing each bolt from a stance.


title: John Bachar

text: In 1986, Bachar and Peter Croft made a link up of El Capitan and Half Dome, climbing a vertical mile in under 14 hours. In the 1990s, Bachar free soloed "Enterprise" (5.12b) in the Owens River Gorge and "The Gift" (5.12c) at Red Rocks for the "Masters of Stone" video series. He was featured in the documentary "Bachar: One Man, One Myth, One Legend" (2005) by Michael Reardon.


title: John Bachar

text: Bachar lived in Mammoth Lakes, California and was Director of Design of Acopa International LLC, a company which manufactures rock climbing shoes.


title: John Bachar

text: On August 13, 2006, Bachar was involved in a serious car accident while traveling home from the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City. He suffered multiple fractured vertebrae.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Singapore is a parliamentary representative democratic republic whereby the president of Singapore is the head of state, the prime minister of Singapore is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet from the parliament, and to a lesser extent, the president. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the government and is accountable to Parliament. There are three separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary abiding by the Westminster system. Singapore has been described as being a "de facto" one-party state.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Singapore. The legislature is the parliament, which consists of the president as its head and a single chamber whose members are elected by popular vote. The role of the president as the head of state has been, historically, largely ceremonial although the constitution was amended in 1991 to give the president some veto powers in a few key decisions such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of key judiciary, Civil Service and Singapore Armed Forces posts. They also exercise powers over civil service appointments and national security matters.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Singaporean politics have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since the 1959 general election when Lee Kuan Yew became Singapore's first prime minister (Singapore was then a self-governing state within the British Empire). The PAP has been the only ruling party to form the government since then. Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 and gained independence in 1965 after being expelled.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest in the world by Transparency International. The World Bank's governance indicators have also rated Singapore highly on rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness. However, it is widely perceived that some aspects of the political process, civil liberties, and political and human rights are lacking. Freedom House deemed the press "not free" in 2015.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The Workers' Party (WP) is the leading opposition party. WP took 10 of the 93 parliamentary seats in the 2020 election, while the PAP won the other 83. Another new opposition party, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), obtained two NCMP seats in the 2020 election.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: One commonly cited reason for a lack of opposition in Singapore is the use of defamation lawsuits by the PAP to bankrupt political opponents and disqualify them from running for office when accusations were made against the ruling party. Cases include former leader of the WP J. B. Jeyaretnam and leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Chee Soon Juan, who were bankrupted in 2001 and 2011 respectively.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Another reason given is the pursuit of legal action against journalists and bloggers critical of the PAP and its policies. Reporters Without Borders cites such lawsuits, along with attempts at making critical journalists unemployable, among its concerns when ranking the country 151st in the world for press freedom in 2017.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The PAP has in the past threatened voters by saying that constituencies voting for opposition MPs would be put at the bottom of the list for public housing programs. In 1998, then PAP secretary-general, Goh Chok Tong said, "By linking the priority of upgrading to electoral support, we focus the minds of voters on the link between upgrading and the people whose policies make it possible. This has the desired result.". As recently as 2011 Lee Hsien Loong expressed that there has to be a distinction between opposition wards and the ones that voted for the PAP in terms of housing upgrades.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The boundaries of electoral constituencies in Singapore are decided by the Elections Department, which is under the control of the Prime Minister's Office. Electoral boundaries are redrawn just a few days before the general election. There have been accusations of gerrymandering via dissolving of constituencies with relatively stronger opposition support, such as the Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (GRC).


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Although Singapore's laws are inherited from British and British Indian laws, including many elements of English common law, the PAP has also consistently rejected liberal democratic values, which it typifies as Western and states that there should not be a 'one-size-fits-all' solution to a democracy. Laws restricting the freedom of speech exist to prohibit speech that may breed ill will or cause disharmony within Singapore's multiracial, multi-religious society. For example, in September 2005, three bloggers were convicted of sedition for posting racist remarks targeting minorities.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning and there are laws which allow capital punishment in Singapore for murder and drug trafficking.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: However, the president must consult the Council of Presidential Advisers before he or she takes a decision on some of these matters. The council comprises:


title: Politics of Singapore

text: A member of the council serves a six-year term and is eligible for re-appointment for further terms of four years each.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Similar to the Speech from the Throne given by the heads of state in other parliamentary systems, the president delivers an address written by the government at the opening of parliament about what kind of policies to expect in the coming year. The current president is Halimah Yacob.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The cabinet forms the executive of the government and it is answerable to parliament. It consist of sitting members of parliament and is headed by a prime minister, the head of government. The current prime minister is Lee Hsien Loong.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Neither the prime minister nor members of the cabinet are elected by parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president, then Cabinet members, also known as ministers, are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The cabinet in Singapore collectively decides the government's policies and has influence over lawmaking by introducing bills.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Ministers in Singapore are the highest paid politicians in the world, receiving a 60% salary raise in 2007 and as a result Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's pay jumped to S$3.1 million, five times the US$400,000 earned by US President Barack Obama. Although there was a public outcry regarding the high salary in comparison to the size of the country governed, the government's firm stance was that this raise was required to ensure the continued efficiency and corruption-free status of Singapore's "world-class" government. On 21 May 2011, following the 2011 general election, the Prime Minister announced that a committee would be appointed to review politicians' remuneration, and that revised salaries would take effect from that date.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The unicameral Singaporean parliament is the legislature in Singapore with the president as its head. Before independence in 1965, it was known as the Legislative Assembly. It currently consists of 93 members of parliament. The maximum term of any one parliament is five years, after which a general election must be held within three months of the dissolution of parliament.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The 93 elected members of parliament (MPs) are elected on a plurality voting basis and represent either single-member constituencies (SMCs) or group representation constituencies (GRCs). In GRCs, political parties field a team of between three and six candidates. At least one candidate in the team must belong to a minority race.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Formerly, there were no GRCs, and all constituencies of Singapore were represented by one member, but amendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act in 1991 led to the creation of GRCs, thus creating a plurality voting system in the process.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: This development has led to complaints from opposition parties that they are often unable to field one, let alone three or more candidates. Out of the 93 members of parliament, 26 are female. In the 2001 and 2006 general election, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) won the same configuration of 82 out of the 84 seats. The final results of the 2020 general election saw a 8.62% swing against the PAP from the 2015 elections of 69.86%.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The constitution also provides for the appointment of other members of parliament not voted in at an election. Up to six non-constituency members of parliament from the opposition political parties can be appointed. Currently, there are two non-constituency members of parliament.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: A constitutional provision for the appointment of up to nine nominated members of parliament (NMPs) was made in 1990. NMPs are appointed by the president for a term of two and a half years on the recommendation of a select committee chaired by the speaker of Parliament and are not connected to any political parties. The youngest NMP to be sworn into parliament was 26 years old, Yip Pin Xiu.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Before any law is passed, it is first introduced in parliament as a draft known as a bill. Bills are usually introduced by a minister on behalf of the cabinet, known as government bills. However, any member of parliament can introduce a bill, known as a private member's bill. All bills must go through three readings in parliament and receive the president's assent to become an act of Parliament.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Each bill goes through several stages before it becomes a law. The first stage is a mere formality known as the first reading, where it is introduced without a debate. This is followed by the second reading, where members of parliament debate on the general principles of the bill. If parliament opposes the bill, it may vote to reject the bill.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: If the bill goes through the second reading, the bill is sent to a select committee where every clause in the bill is examined. Members of parliament who support the bill in principle but do not agree with certain clauses can propose amendments to those clauses at this stage. Following its report back to parliament, the bill will go through its third reading where only minor amendments will be allowed before it is passed.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Most bills passed by parliament are scrutinised by the Presidential Council for Minority Rights which makes a report to the speaker of Parliament stating whether there are clauses in a bill which affects any racial or religious community. If approved by the council, the bill will be presented for the president's assent.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The last stage involves the granting of assent by the president, before the bill officially becomes a law.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The constitution cannot be amended without the support of more than two-thirds of the members of parliament on the second and third readings. The president may seek opinion on constitutional issues from a tribunal consisting of not less than three judges of the Supreme Court. Singaporean courts, like the courts in Australia, cannot offer advisory opinion on the constitutionality of laws.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The sections on liberty of the person and freedoms of speech, assembly, movement, association and religion are all qualified by allowing Parliament to restrict those freedoms for reasons including national security, public health, and "public order or morality". In practice, the courts have given complete discretion to the government in imposing such restrictions.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Part XII of the constitution allows the Parliament of Singapore to enact legislation designed to stop or prevent subversion. Such legislation is valid even if it is inconsistent with Part IV of the constitution. The Internal Security Act (ISA) is a legislation under such provision. In 1966, Chia Thye Poh was detained under the ISA and was imprisoned for 23 years without trial. Afterwards, he was placed under conditions of house arrest for another nine years.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Voting has been compulsory in Singapore since 1959 and there is universal suffrage. The legal voting age is 21. The Elections Department of Singapore is responsible for the planning, preparation and conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections and of any national referendum in Singapore. It is a department under the Prime Minister's Office.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Paper ballots are still used in Singapore. However, there is a concern that voting secrecy might be compromised as ballot papers have serial numbers on them. As stated in the Elections Department website:


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The PAP has been the dominant political party in Singapore, re-elected continuously since 1959. It is headed by Lee Hsien Loong, who succeeded Goh Chok Tong. Goh's predecessor Lee Kuan Yew served as Singapore's prime minister from independence through 1990. Since stepping down as prime minister, Lee remained influential as Senior Minister and Minister Mentor.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: PAP has held the overwhelming majority of seats in parliament since 1966 when the opposition Barisan Sosialis Party resigned from parliament and left the PAP as the sole representative party. PAP won all of the seats in an expanding parliament in the general elections of 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980. PAP's share of the popular vote in contested seats declined from 78% in 1980 to 65% in 1997. However, the elections of 2001 saw the party's share of the popular vote climb to 75%, winning 82 of the 84 seats. The 2006 Singapore general election marked the first time since 1988 the PAP did not return to power on nomination day, with the opposition parties fielding candidates in over half of the constituencies. Overall PAP saw its share of the vote fall to 66.6%.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: There are two opposition parties in the 14th Parliament of Singapore as of 2020 - The Workers' Party and the Progress Singapore Party.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: There are other major opposition parties such as the Singapore People's Party, Reform Party, and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), that do not hold a seat in parliament. J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party became the first opposition party member of parliament in 15 years when he won a 1981 by-election. Despite acquiring an increasing percentage of the popular vote—34% overall in 2006—opposition parties gained small numbers of seats in the general elections of 1984 (2 seats of 79), 1988 (1 seat of 81), 1991 (4 seats of 81), 1997 (2 seats of 83) and 2001 (2 seats of 84). The opposition parties attribute the disproportionate results to the nature of the GRC system.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: As of July 2020, the Worker's Party holds 10 of 93 elected seats while Progress Singapore Party holds the remaining 2 Non-constituency MP (NCMP) seats.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Women traditionally played a significantly smaller role than their male counterparts in Singapore. Nonetheless, in recent years, there is an increasing level of female participation in the Singapore political arena.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: On 11 July 2020, He Ting Ru and Raeesah Begum Farid Khan became the third and fourth woman from an opposition party to win a seat in parliament by 4,922 votes over the ruling party's candidates in the 2020 general election for Sengkang Group Representation Constituency(GRC). The team was led by He Ting Ru and was first timer Raeesah Khan who proceeded to become the youngest MP in Singapore's Parliamentary history.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: Lee Li Lian was the second woman from an opposition party to win a seat in Parliament with 54.50% of the votes but lost in the following 2015 general election by a slim margin. Sylvia Lim Swee Lian, currently the Chairperson of the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and Member of Parliament (MP) representing Aljunied GRC whose team won 54.71% of the votes (54.72% including overseas votes), was the first time that an opposition party won a GRC since the system's introduction on 1 June 1988.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: In September 2017, Halimah Yacob was inaugurated as Singapore's first woman President, the only candidate certified as eligible in the election.


title: Politics of Singapore

text: The candidates and supporters of the various political parties tend to wear the following shirt colours while making their rounds in various wards or campaigning.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: Airwolf is the helicopter from the 1980s American television series of the same name. Its fictional features included stratospheric ceiling, stealth noise signature, a wide range of weapons and supersonic speed. The "Airwolf" helicopter was a conventional Bell 222 helicopter modified by attaching some film props.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The flying "Airwolf" was derived from a Bell 222, a twin-turboshaft helicopter produced for the civilian market and typically employed for corporate, emergency medical or utility transport missions, with seating for up to 10, including the pilot.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The airframe used for "Airwolf" was serial number 47085 (registration number N3176S), of the initial production version, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series the helicopter was owned by JetCopters Inc. in Van Nuys, California.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: After the show was canceled, the modifications were removed from the aircraft and are now owned by a private collector. The helicopter was repainted and eventually sold to the German helicopter charter company, Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst (aka HSD Luftrettung and Blue Helicopter Alliance), and given the registration number D-HHSD. While operating as an air ambulance, the helicopter crashed into a mountain in thunderstorm on June 6, 1992, killing all three occupants onboard.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: A new, full-size replica of the "Airwolf" helicopter was created by Steven W. Stull for display in the short-lived Helicopter Headquarters museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that opened in August 2006, using a non-flying Bell 222 with molds taken directly from the originals used in the show. The museum was unsuccessful, and offered the replica for sale through eBay. The replica was housed between 2007 and 2015 in the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee. It was then sold to a private collector in California, having been further modified at West Coast Customs during September 2015. The replica was the placed on top of an expensive mansion in Bel Air, California.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: "Airwolf" was painted "Phantom Gray Metallic" (DuPont Imron 5031X) on top, and a custom pearl-gray (almost white) on the bottom, in a countershaded pattern. The craft was also fitted with various prop modifications, such as "turbojet" engines and intakes, an in-air refueling nozzle and blister cowling on the nose, retractable machine guns at the wingtips, and a retractable rocket launcher, known as the "ADF Pod" (ADF standing for All Directional Firing, as the pod could rotate 180 degrees to fire at targets at the sides—90 degrees to the left, forward, or 90 degrees to the right) on its belly.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The look of the modifications was designed by Andrew Probert, and they were first applied to the non-flying mock-up (built from the body of the very first Bell 222, serial number 47001). From this mock-up molds were made so that parts could be made to FAA specifications before they were added to the flying helicopter. After the maiden flight with the modifications, primary pilot David Jones told the producer that "It flies better now than before!"


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The machine guns mounted on the side of the landing gear sponsons were mock-ups that used spark plugs and fuel to simulate gun firing. Other modifications were implied with Foley and sets; the interior sets were of a fantastical high-tech nature, and there were implied "stealth" noise-reducing capabilities with creative use of sound effects. On the show, the deployment of the weapons systems were usually shown via close-ups of the action; in reality, these close-ups were produced on props off-site, while the non-moving prop components were attached to the aircraft by a technician in the field or at the JetCopters hangar.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The concept behind "Airwolf" was a super-fast and armed helicopter that could "blend in" by appearing to be civilian and non-military in origin, a "wolf in sheep's clothing". "Airwolf's" insignia patch (also designed by Probert) as worn by the flight-crew was a snarling wolf's head with gossamer wings that appears to be wearing a sheepskin complete with the head of a lamb over the wolf's forehead. "Airwolf" is sometimes referred to in-show as "The Lady" by Santini and Hawke.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: In the show, "Airwolf" was an armored, stealthy aircraft. It could perform impossible maneuvers and stunts, including traveling at mach speeds (the theoretical maximum speed of a helicopter is significantly below Mach 0.5, or half the speed of sound), and flying into the stratosphere. Some of these impossible capabilities are explained in the show by such features as auxiliary jet engines (visible at the roots of the landing gear sponsons), rotor blades that can be disengaged for supersonic flight and a lifting body fuselage.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: Sound effects were also associated with many of the aircraft's abilities. When "Airwolf" bolted across the sky in "turbo boost" mode, one would hear it "howl like a wolf" as it made a glass-shattering sound effect. When sitting idle, the aircraft made a mechanical trilling sound, and while hovering the rotor blades made a ghostly wind drone.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: The weapons were state-of-the-art, with machine guns that could rip apart tanks and bunkers. The belly missile pod could fire a variety of rockets, including air-to-surface Mavericks, Hellfires, and heat-seeking air-to-air Sidewinders. When fired, these rockets usually glowed like a laser bolt or "photon torpedo" from "Star Trek". "Airwolf" was also equipped with an advanced computer system which could identify and track aircraft and ground vehicles. It could display 3D wireframe models and schematics of its targets. The communications system could eavesdrop on radio and telephone conversations, tap into and foul up computer systems, jam enemy transmission frequencies and disrupt ground-based electrical systems. The stealth systems were capable of rendering "Airwolf" invisible to radar, as well as producing multiple radar returns. The weapons system could be tied in with the communications system to lock the missiles onto any monitored electronic system. In the first episode, a Bullpup missile was launched from "Airwolf" against an American destroyer while the helicopter was being used by its in-story inventor, Doctor Charles Henry Moffet.


title: Airwolf (helicopter)

text: In the 2nd episode of Season 3 ("Airwolf II"), "Airwolf" had a twin, "Airwolf II", also known as "Redwolf". "Redwolf" was secretly built by The Firm to replace "Airwolf", but was subsequently stolen and flown by Harlan Jenkins, its egotistical creator and test-pilot rival of Stringfellow Hawke. "Redwolf" differed from "Airwolf" in that its underbelly was painted red (where "Airwolf" was painted pearl-grey). It was also equipped with a powerful laser weapon coupled with a quick-firing, single-tube rocket pod (although in reality it had no external modifications to the Bell 222). Season 4 also featured a similar copter to "Redwolf", known as the "Scorpion", though the footage of the dogfighting was recycled from the "Airwolf II" episode.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: Unnale Unnale () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film.The movie is directed and co-written by Jeeva and produced by Oscar Ravichandran. It stars Vinay, Sadha and Tanisha Mukherjee in lead roles; Srinath, Raju Sundaram and Sathish Krishnan in supporting roles; and Lekha Washington, Aravind Akash, Uma Padmanabhan, and Vasundhara Kashyap in cameo roles. Raju Sundaram also worked as a choreographer in the film. The Telugu dubbed version was titled "Neevalle Neevalle" and released simultaneously with the Tamil version.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film revolves around the aftermath of a relationship between a careless man and a serious woman. Despite being in a relationship, the latter walks out on the former due to his antics with other women. However, the man changes his ways and on a business trip to Melbourne, he encounters another woman. This other woman's boss turns out to be the man's former lover. The events that follow and who the man eventually gets together with form the crux of the story.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film opened to Indian audiences after several delays, on 14 April 2007, coinciding with the Tamil New Year. The film received positive reviews and became a blockbuster hit at box office. It marked the last directorial venture of Jeeva before his death on 26 June 2007.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film opens with a man (Aravind Akash) and woman interviewing civilians on love and the opposite sex. After a mixture of answers, they cease their questions, and the credits roll. The credits end as a boy, after being rejected by his girlfriend, is accidentally hit by a passing car and dies. Karthik (Vinay) walks off, disturbed, to his girlfriend Jhansi's (Sadha) office. There, he is criticized by her for his antics with other women and his lack of passion for their love. She walks off, ending their relationship.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: Karthik is then shown as a civil engineer in Chennai, still playful and fun-loving. Accepting a request from his manager to go on a six-month business trip to Melbourne, he bids farewell to his friends Raju (Raju Sundaram) and Sathish (Sathish Krishnan). On the plane, he encounters a playful, flirtatious girl named Deepika (Tanisha), whom he sits next to during the flight. After spending hours together, they become friends and exchange contact details. However, by coincidence, Deepika is travelling to Melbourne to work in the same company as Jhansi, who is settled there. Together they seem to conveniently bump into Karthik at every corner, prompting an unwelcome reunion for Jhansi and Karthik.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: While Deepika takes a liking to Karthik, Jhansi ignores him, even though he has hopes of getting back together. At a restaurant, Karthik bumps into a fellow Tamilian named Vaidyanathan (Srinath) and explains his love for Jhansi. The story then flashes back two years. Karthik had met Jhansi at a festival in a temple, where she played a prank on him and his friends. Taking a liking to Jhansi, Karthik begins to follow her intentionally, hoping for her to fall in love with him. Soon after, she becomes more and more suspicious of Karthik. This comes to a head when Karthik acts as the boyfriend of Raju's girlfriend Pooja (Paloma Rao), only for Jhansi to get confused and mistake him. His reputation as a trusting boyfriend takes another turn for the worse, when at a wedding, the bride (Lekha Washington) gives him a kiss after he improvises a song.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: As the pair have a love-hate relationship, the breakup beckons when Jhansi sends her friend (Vasundhara Kashyap) undercover to flirt with Karthik. However, he lies by claiming that he was at home ill, prompting Jhansi to end their relationship. At the end of the flashback, Vaidyanathan suggests to Karthik that it is more important to move on than think regretfully, and Karthik gets over his relationship with Jhansi. However, finding out about Deepika's love towards Karthik, Jhansi becomes jealous and reinstates her love for Karthik. Soon, as she sees Deepika and Karthik's compatibility and understanding her fault, she finally understands what went wrong in their relationship. Then, Karthik tells her through a meaningful conversation that he still loves her, not Deepika. After this, Jhansi runs away to Sydney surreptitiously.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: At the end of the film, the male interviewer who appeared at the start questions Jhansi on her decision to leave anonymously; however, she refuses to answer at first. Later, she replies that though she still loves Karthik, she was unable to understand him well. She knew that it would not work out and that she did not want to hurt Karthik further, thus becoming the sole reason for her departure. She then confirms that she met up with Deepika recently, and had found that she is married to Karthik and they have a child. She then walks away, claiming that her future lies in her own hands, and she is happy the way she is now.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The entire production of the film took about a year and a half to be completed and released. Prior to "Unnale Unnale", Jeeva had directed three films, "12B", "Ullam Ketkumae" and "Run", a Hindi film. "Unnale Unnale" became his last finished film prior to his death on the sets of his next film, "Dhaam Dhoom".


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film was originally announced under the title of "July Kaatril" (In the Winds of July) with a scheduled casting of Arya, Sonia Agarwal and Parvati Melton. However all three of the proposed lead cast opted out of the film. Agarwal cited that her marriage was on the cards and she would find it difficult to sign on for a year, whilst the other two were unable to star in the film due to undisclosed reasons.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: In an interview, Jeeva said, "Romance always finds a special place in Tamil films. My new film July Kaatril is also about love", confirming it was a romantic flick. While Harris Jayaraj was signed on as the music director with Kavignar Vaali and Pa. Vijay assisting him with the lyrics, Jeeva's wife, Aneez, debuted as a costume designer.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The casting of Vinay, after Arya opted out, as Karthik was due to some similarities with the character. Vinay made his debut into the film industry after modelling and featuring in a couple of Tulu advertisements. However, they finalised the choice of the actor only after the script was ready. The choice of Sadha was more difficult and since "Anniyan" she had received many negative reviews and the film became important to rekindle her success. The role of Deepika went to Tanisha Mukherjee, who despite being a leading heroine's sister (Kajol), she was yet to maintain a hit film. Mukherjee, came down to South India to look for new opportunities and attracted the producer into signing her on. She immediately expressed her satisfaction with the character and consented for the role. The camaraderie that the lead actors shared during the filming, added on to their good performances. Raju Sundaram and Sathish were picked for their dancing skills while actresses Paloma Rao, Lekha Washington, Aravind Akash and Vasundra all played floating cameos in the film.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film was mostly shot in Melbourne, Australia overlooking the Melbourne Docklands. The climax was shot in Sydney while the beginning and the flashback was picturized in various cities across South India. For the film's music and soundtrack, Jeeva renewed his previous association ("12B" and "Ullam Ketkumae") with Harris Jayaraj. Playback singer, Chinmayi dubbed for Tanisha Mukherjee.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The film has six songs composed by Harris Jayaraj with the lyrics primarily penned by Vaali and Pa. Vijay. The audio of the film released nationwide on 24 January 2007, three months prior to the movie release. Sify gave a positive rating stating "Full marks to Harris Jeyaraj for the songs especially the “Unnale Unnale...”, “June Pona...” and the background score which stays long after you leave the hall. They are picturised aesthetically in never-seen-before locations with utmost care going into details. " The soundtrack was highly acclaimed and won the "Youthful Album of the Year" award at "Tamil Music Awards". Harris Jayaraj was also nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and the Vijay Award for Best Music Director.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The movie was released worldwide alongside "Mayakannadi", "Madurai Veeran" and "Arputha Theevu" on Tamil New Year's Day, 14 April 2007. Owing to the success of the film, the number of reels grew to about hundred. The film completed 100 days of screening in the theaters in the state of Tamil Nadu. The reception in Malaysia was equally successful and was released in six major metropolises for up to 9 weeks, the film collected $114,883 (then approximately 5 million) within its 50-day run.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: Along with its relative commercial success, the film received positive reviews on the storyline and the performances of the actors themselves. "Rediff.com" praised Sadha's, Tanisha's, and Vinay's performances, while the reviewers at "SearchIndia.com" contradict the statement, praising and other pair. The film made business for Vinay, who signed up many films after the project.


title: Unnale Unnale

text: The DVD version of the film was released on 8 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. This DVD release was distributed by Ayngaran International all around the world. It is available in Anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, progressive 24 FPS, widescreen and NTSC format. The satellite rights of the film were bagged by Jaya TV.


title: Space warfare

text: Space warfare is hypothetical combat in which one or more belligerents are situated in outer space. The scope of space warfare therefore includes "ground-to-space warfare", such as attacking satellites from the Earth; "space-to-space warfare", such as satellites attacking satellites; and "space-to-ground warfare", such as satellites attacking Earth-based targets. Space warfare in fiction is thus sub-genre and theme of science fiction, where it is portrayed with a range of realism and plausibility.


title: Space warfare

text: , no actual warfare is known to have taken place in space, though a number of tests and demonstrations have been performed. International treaties are in place that attempt to regulate conflicts in space and limit the installation of space weapon systems, especially nuclear weapons.


title: Space warfare

text: From 1985 to 2002 there was a United States Space Command, which in 2002 merged with the United States Strategic Command, leaving the United States Space Force (formerly Air Force Space Command until 2019) as the primary American military space force. The Russian Space Force, established on August 10, 1992, which became an independent section of the Russian military on June 1, 2001, was replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces starting December 1, 2011, but was reestablished as a component of the Russian Aerospace Forces on August 1, 2015. In 2019 India conducted a test of the ASAT missile making it the fourth country with that capability. In April 2019, the Indian government established the Defence Space Agency, or DSA.


title: Space warfare

text: Early efforts to conduct space warfare were directed at space-to-space warfare, as ground-to-space systems were considered to be too slow and too isolated by Earth's atmosphere and gravity to be effective at the time. The history of active space warfare development goes back to the 1960s when the Soviet Union began the Almaz project, a project designed to give them the ability to do on-orbit inspections of satellites and destroy them if needed. Similar planning in the United States took the form of the Blue Gemini project, which consisted of modified Gemini capsules that would be able to deploy weapons and perform surveillance.


title: Space warfare

text: One early test of electronic space warfare, the so-called Starfish Prime test, took place in 1962, when the United States exploded a ground-launched nuclear weapon in space to test the effects of an electromagnetic pulse. The result was a deactivation of many then-orbiting satellites, both American and Soviet. The deleterious and unfocused effects of the EMP test led to the banning of nuclear weapons in space in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. (See high-altitude nuclear explosion.)


title: Space warfare

text: In the early 1960s the U.S. military produced a film called "Space and National Security" which depicted space warfare.


title: Space warfare

text: Through the 1970s, the Soviet Union continued their project and test-fired a cannon to test space station defense. This was considered too dangerous to do with a crew on board, however, so the test was conducted after the crew had returned to Earth.


title: Space warfare

text: A 1976 Soviet report suggested that the design of the Space Shuttle had been guided by a requirement to deliver a payload- such as a bomb- over Russia and return to land after a single orbit. This may have been a confusion based on requirements 3A and 3B for the shuttle's design, which required the craft to be able to deploy or retrieve an object from a polar orbit in a single pass.


title: Space warfare

text: Both the Soviets and the United States developed anti-satellite weaponry designed to shoot down satellites. While early efforts paralleled other space-to-space warfare concepts, the United States was able in the 1980s to develop ground-to-space laser anti-satellite weapons. None of these systems are known to be active today; however, a less powerful civilian version of the ground-to-space laser system is commonly used in the astronomical technique of adaptive optics.


title: Space warfare

text: In 1984 the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) was proposed. It was nicknamed "Star Wars" after the popular science fiction franchise Star Wars.


title: Space warfare

text: In 1985 a USAF pilot in an F-15 successfully shot down the P78-1, an American research satellite, in a 345-mile (555 km) orbit with a missile.


title: Space warfare

text: The People's Republic of China successfully tested (see 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test) a ballistic missile-launched anti-satellite weapon on January 11, 2007. This resulted in harsh criticism from the United States of America, Britain, and Japan.


title: Space warfare

text: The U.S. developed an interceptor missile, the SM-3, testing it by hitting ballistic test targets while they were in space. On February 21, 2008, the U.S. used a SM-3 missile to destroy a spy satellite, USA-193, while it was 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) above the Pacific Ocean.


title: Space warfare

text: Japan fields the U.S.-made SM-3 missile, and there have been plans to base the land-based version in Romania and Vietnam.


title: Space warfare

text: In March 2019, India shot down a satellite orbiting in a low Earth orbit using an ASAT missile during an operation code named Mission Shakti, thus making its way to the list of space warfare nations, establishing the Defense Space Agency the following month, followed by its first-ever simulated space warfare exercise on 25 July which would inform a joint military space doctrine.


title: Space warfare

text: In July 2019 Emmanuel Macron "called for a space high command to protect" France's satellites. This was followed by a plan released by military officials. French Defense Minister, Florence Parly, announced a space weapons program that would move the country's space surveillance strategy towards active protection of its assets in space, e.g. satellites. The projects outlined include: patrolling nano-satellites swarms, ground-based laser systems to blind spying satellites, and machine guns mounted on satellites.


title: Space warfare

text: In the late 1970s and through the 1980s the Soviet Union and the United States theorized, designed and in some cases tested a variety of weaponry designed for warfare in outer space. Space warfare was seen primarily as an extension of nuclear warfare, and many theoretical systems were based around the destruction or defense of ground and sea-based missiles. Space-based missiles were not attempted due to the Outer Space Treaty, which banned the use, testing or storage of nuclear weapons outside the Earth's atmosphere. When the U.S. gained "interest in utilizing space-based lasers for ballistic missile defense", two facts emerged. One being that the ballistic missiles are fragile and two, chemical lasers project missile killing energy (3,000 kilometers). This meant that lasers could be put into space to intercept a ballistic missile.


title: Space warfare

text: Systems proposed ranged from measures as simple as ground and space-based anti-missiles to railguns, space based lasers, orbital mines and similar weaponry. Deployment of these systems was seriously considered in the mid-1980s under the banner of the Strategic Defense Initiative announced by Ronald Reagan in 1983, using the term "evil empire" to describe the Soviets (hence the popular nickname "Star Wars"). If the Cold War had continued, many of these systems could potentially have seen deployment: the United States developed working railguns, and a laser that could destroy missiles at range, though the power requirements, range, and firing cycles of both were impractical. Weapons like the space-based laser was rejected, not just by the government, but by universities, moral thinkers, and religious people because it would have increased the waging of the arms race and questioned the United States' role in the Cold War.


title: Space warfare

text: With the end of the Cold War and continued development of satellite and electronics technology, attention was focused on space as a supporting theatre for conventional warfare. Currently, military operations in space primarily concern either the vast tactical advantages of satellite-based surveillance, communications, and positioning systems or mechanisms used to deprive an opponent of said tactical advantages.


title: Space warfare

text: Accordingly, most space-borne proposals which would traditionally be considered "weapons" (a communications or reconnaissance satellite may be useful in warfare but isn't generally classified as a weapon) are designed to jam, sabotage, and outright destroy enemy satellites, and conversely to protect friendly satellites against such attacks. To this end, the US (and presumably other countries) is researching groups of small, highly mobile satellites called "microsats" (about the size of a refrigerator) and "picosats" (approximately 1 cubic foot (≈27 litres) in volume) nimble enough to maneuver around and interact with other orbiting objects to repair, sabotage, hijack, or simply collide with them.


title: Space warfare

text: Another theorized use involves the extension of conventional weaponry into orbit for deployment against ground targets. Though international treaties ban the deployment of nuclear missiles outside the atmosphere, other categories of weapons are largely unregulated. Traditional ground-based weapons are generally not useful in orbital environments, and few if any would survive re-entry even if they were, but as early as the 1950s, the United States has toyed with kinetic bombardment, i.e. orbiting magazines of non-explosive projectiles to be dropped onto hardened targets from low Earth orbit.


title: Space warfare

text: Kinetic weapons have always been widespread in conventional warfare—bullets, arrows, swords, clubs, etc.—but the energy a projectile would gain while falling from orbit would make such a weapon rival all but the most powerful explosives. A direct hit would presumably destroy all but the most hardened targets without the need for nuclear weapons.


title: Space warfare

text: Such a system would involve a 'spotter' satellite, which would identify targets from orbit with high-power sensors, and a nearby 'magazine' satellite to de-orbit a long, needle-like tungsten dart onto it with a small rocket motor or just dropping a very big rock from orbit (such as an asteroid, cf. Ivan's hammer). This would be more useful against a larger but less hardened target (such as a city). Though a common device in science fiction, there is no publicly available evidence that any such systems have actually been deployed by any nation.


title: Space warfare

text: Weapon systems that fall under this category include lasers, linear particle accelerators or particle-beam based weaponry, microwaves and plasma-based weaponry. Particle beams involve the acceleration of charged or neutral particles in a stream towards a target at extremely high velocities, the impact of which creates a reaction causing immense damage. Most of these weapons are theoretical or impractical to implement currently, aside from lasers which are starting to be used in terrestrial warfare. That said, directed-energy weapons are more practical and more effective in a vacuum (i.e. space) than in the Earth's atmosphere, as in the atmosphere the particles of air interfere with and disperse the directed energy. Nazi Germany had a project for such a weapon, considered a wunderwaffe, the sun gun, which would have been an orbital concave mirror able to concentrate the sun's energy on a ground target.


title: Space warfare

text: Space warfare is likely to be done at far bigger distances and speeds than combat on Earth. The vast distances pose big challenges for targeting and tracking, as even light requires a few seconds to cover hundreds of thousands of kilometers. For example, if trying to fire on a target at the distance of the Moon from the Earth, one sees the position of the target slightly more than a second earlier. Thus even a laser would need ~1.28 seconds, meaning a laser-based weapon system would need to lead a target's apparent position by 1.28×2 = 2.56 seconds. A projectile from a railgun recently tested by the US Navy would take over 18 hours to cross that distance, if it travels in a straight line at a constant velocity of 5.8 km/s along its entire trajectory.


title: Space warfare

text: Three factors make engaging targets in space very difficult. First, the vast distances mean that an error of even a fraction of a degree in the firing solution can mean a miss by thousands of kilometers. Second, spaceflight involves tremendous speeds by terrestrial standards—a geostationary satellite moves at 3.07 km/s, and objects in low Earth orbit move at ~8 km/s. Third, though distances are huge, targets remain relatively small. The International Space Station, currently the largest artificial object in Earth orbit, measures slightly over 100m at its largest span. Other satellites can be vastly smaller, e.g. Quickbird measures only 3.04m. External ballistics for stationary terrestrial targets is enormously complicated—some of the earliest analog computers were used to calculate firing solutions for naval artillery, as the problems were already beyond manual solutions in any reasonable time—and targeting objects in space is far harder. And, though not a problem for orbital kinetic weapons, any directed energy weapon would need huge amounts of electricity. So far the most practical batteries are lithium, and the most practical means of generating electricity in space is photovoltaic modules, which are currently only up to 30% efficient, and fuel cells, which have limited fuel. Current technology might not be practical for powering effective lasers, particle beams, and railguns in space. In the context of the Strategic Defense Initiative, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States worked on a project for expandable space-based x-ray lasers powered by a nuclear explosion, Project Excalibur, a project canceled in 1992 for lack of results.


title: Space warfare

text: General William L. Shelton has said that in order to protect against attacks, Space Situational Awareness is much more important than additional hardening or armoring of satellites. The Air Force Space Command has indicated that their defensive focus will be on "Disaggregated Space Architectures".