Word: feudalisms
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...course, bondage as recreation and even an art form isn't new in Asia. Nawashibari, erotic rope binding, has its origins in 17th century feudal Japan, when samurai's servants took great care weaving hemp cords in intricate patterns to restrain, transport and torture suspected criminals. Today the art is practiced for aesthetic reasons: some people admire the designs that binds leave on the skin...
...year Mohammed VI sent a secret emissary to France to arrange the return of Morocco's most famous political refugee, Abraham Serfaty, a Marxist who spent 17 years in prison before being deported in 1991. Today Serfaty lives in a seaside villa courtesy of the palace. "Hassan II was feudal," says Serfaty. "But Mohammed VI is modern. He does not have an authoritarian disposition...
...true Vikings--those marauders of monasteries, those fearsome invaders from the north--had long since vanished, except in myth. As Europe's weak feudal fiefs had grown into powerful kingdoms, the Norse raiders had run out of easy victims. In England the victory in 1066 of William the Conqueror--a descendant of Norsemen from Normandy--marked the end of Viking terror...
Shogun's political side is interesting enough in a Civilization kind of way; as daimyo--feudal warlord--of a medieval Japanese province, you extend influence through alliances, discreet Ninja assassinations and the beautiful-but-deadly geisha. But it is in the continuation of politics by other means that Shogun really excels. Battles with neighboring daimyo are conducted in real time on landscapes realistic enough to reveal the shifting shadows of birds' wings. Your own bird's-eye view is ideal for commanding battalions of archers, ashigaru (foot soldiers) and samurai. Up to 7,000 soldiers can appear at the same...
...case. And despite the fragility of its coalition governments of recent years, India is a stable democracy, while Pakistan has been perennially plagued by military coups and religious extremism. "Its socialist attitudes have hamstrung economic development, but India is a forward-looking democracy," says Dowell. "Pakistan remains a more feudal society whose political elites have kept it mired in its own mess." Given its population size, economic potential and strategic significance, India wants to be thought of as being in the same league as its eastern neighbor, China. India's rationale for developing nuclear weapons, for example, was based...