Subscribing to internet blogs, newsletters and groups

Rethinking Afghanistan on facebook

Signing up to facebook groups, internet blogs and magazines, suggested by Mike as part of our Digital History course, has been very helpful to my research for my dissertation. The last section of my paper will cover the legacy of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis for US – Iranian relations. Although I have been aware of and consulted the websites of the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International in the past, I have now signed up to the newsletters and blogs of a number of journals, magazines and blogs. This means the information comes to me via my email or facebook page rather than I needing to seek it out. I receive updates, reports and snippets of articles from The International Crisis Group, Foreign Policy Magazine, Enduring America, Rethink Afghanistan, National Security Archives, Foreign Affairs and The Atlantic magazine, The Slate and (just lately) Mother Jones.

Enduring America is a blog almost totally devoted to contemporary political events in Iran. As well as providing its own analysis the blog relays posts from within Iran by members of the ‘Green Movement’ which rejects the results of last year’s Iranian presidential elections and has been involved in organising a protest campaign. Just last week I attended a lecture at UCC by Houchang Chehabi, an Iranian professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, where he highlighted the increasing use of the internet (twitter, facebook, etc) by twentysomethings within Iran to organise, protest and disseminate information. Though some commentators on the situation in Iran have sought to downplay the influence of technology, surely the ability to communicate, especially with some anonymity, is vital for organising demonstrations amongst large groups of individuals and for finding others who share your political or cultural views. It is like downplaying the influence of the printing press on the Reformation!

Zotero and Me

Before Christmas I downloaded Zotero as an add-on to my Firefox browser. I went on to gather a number of sources but then left it for a number of weeks while I worked on other essays. When  I returned to it to do further work I couldn’t find it on my browser so went looking for my account on the Zotero website but no joy. I emailed the guys at Zotero who also searched for my account before tactfully suggesting that maybe I had just downloaded Zotero but never registered online and synced my stuff! Unfortunately, they were dead right! I had downloaded Zotero but when I got rid of my old laptop my Zotero and Firefox went with it. Anyway, a little wiser, I began again. This time I registered online too so hopefully I can access my Zotero files from any computer though I haven’t tried that yet. I am still trying to get used to saving things to Zotero instead of bookmarking them but am getting better.

I recently downloaded a Zotero add-on for Microsoft Word for generating footnotes and bibliographys. Above is an example of a bibliography I generated using this. Actually creating a bibliography made me realise how very useful the programme is so I look forward to a long and happy relationship!

Using Evernote

Have managed to upload a number of pics to my Evernote account but only recently realised that you had to download the application too to gain maximum benefit! (thanks Mike) So now I can clip images or text to store it on Evernote too. I created a couple of Wordles which are really cute ‘word clouds’ made from uploaded text. The most-used words in the text appear larger and the program can present the text in different fonts, colours and directions. I created my two from President Jimmy Carter’s inaugural and farewell speeches to see if there was a contrast in the focus of his attention. Hopefully, I will attach the two of them below…

US foreign policy research

For my module essay I am going to look at the documents on US propaganda efforts in the Middle East in the 1950s.  The National Security Archives has a electronic sourcebook on its website with over a hundred documents related to this. Mostly telegrams from diplomatic staff in the Middle East to the State Department and vice versa. I would like to get some actual photos of the various pamphlets, books etc discussed also to have a look but that may prove difficult.

My MA Research Topic

My third year dissertation proposal dealt with US foreign policy and the decision to launch military attacks on Afghanistan following the terrorist’s attacks of 9/11. During my research the influence of regional actors, such as Pakistan and Iran, on Afghan affairs was evident. The importance of Iran and Pakistan in underwriting any long term stability in this region is also evident. According to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the three neighbouring states share a common culture, history and languages and Iran recently hosted a summit on Taliban insurgency in Pakistan and Afghanistan which was seen as an effort by Iran to establish a leadership role in this region.
The Guardian recently characterised Pakistan as ‘a nuclear-armed country hurtling towards chaos’. US General David Petraeus, in a leaked military review, identified Pakistan as the most urgent foreign policy issue facing the Obama administration. The security situation is worsening and it is believed to headquarter al Qaeda. Given the fact that Pakistan has nuclear capability and Iran is suspected of being in the process of developing it this alliance is worrying for the US whilst Iran-US relations remain hostile. While, presently, the US has some influence with Pakistan and Afghanistan its relations with Iran are strained to say the least. US President Barack Obama has sought to re-engage with Iran. In his Persian New Year Greeting, addressed to Iranians, the president spoke of ‘overcoming old divisions’ and distanced his administration from former President Bush’s call for regime change in Iran. However, the contemporary history of US-Iranian relations weighs heavily on attempts at reconciliation.
In my MA thesis I would like to explore the contemporary roots of US foreign policy towards this region in more depth with a particular focus on Iran during the 1970s.