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On August 1, the United States, Russia, Germany and three other European nations engaged in an historic 24-person East-West prisoner exchange.
The largest such swap since the end of the Cold War, the multi-country deal secured the release of three prominent American detainees: Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva. It also freed a dozen Russian opposition leaders, incarcerated in their native country for challenging Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime.
Lynne Hartnett, PhD, is the chair of Villanova University’s Department of History and an expert on modern Russia, protest movements and dissidents in exile. Recently, she shared some insights on the Kremlin's decision to release the American and Russian prisoners—as well as the egotism, oppressive tendencies and political posturing that drove their detention.
Q: The arrests and sentencings of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva have been described as "outrageous," "a mockery of justice" and reflective of "a total disregard for basic freedoms." What prompted Putin and the Russian government to detain these individuals? Dr. Hartnett: For Putin, seizing Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva was a power play. They were pawns for him to use when he deemed it convenient. If they could be used in a prisoner swap, they would be. But if that time never arrived, their incarceration, suffering and even potential deaths were inconsequential to him.
Their arrests were also a signal that, in Russia, Putin's authority is uncontested. These were American citizens, and around the world, a U.S. passport opens doors: It holds power; it provides access; and it affords its holder protection. But the arrests of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva were Putin’s attempt to demonstrate the limits of American influence. They were meant as a signal that, in Russia, a U.S. passport becomes meaningless if it serves Putin to make it so.
Q: In recent years, the Russian government has seemingly worked to rehabilitate the reputations of figures like Josef Stalin, who infamously used the Soviet Gulag to stifle opposition and criticism. Is Putin's use of detentions as a political cudgel similar? DH: The show trials of the Stalinist era are frequently referenced. However, it should be stressed that those were largely intended for domestic consumption. They were used to justify the Communist elites' repression of fellow citizens by broadcasting "evidence" that enemies lurked within.
The trials of Americans like Gershkovich and Brittney Griner [a professional basketball player detained on smuggling charges] were designed to show the world, not just Russians, that Putin's regime would not be cowed—even if the person being tried had fame and a powerful enterprise, like the Wall Street Journal or the WNBA, supporting them.
Q: The New York Times recently ran a piece on the Russian dissidents released, claiming "hopes are high [they] will breathe new life into a fragmented opposition force." What do you anticipate these political players' activism will look like in the coming years, especially in exile? DH: As in the Imperial and Soviet periods, Russian censorship prevents any news or opinions that are not the government's from coming to light. As Putin has dismantled political opposition in Russia and tightened his grip on any vestiges of civil society in the country, there is little hope that a powerful opposition movement can gain momentum without outside support.
This is where the Russian dissidents living abroad come in. They will ensure that a vision for another type of Russia is articulated.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, political exiles smuggled illegal newspapers and journals into the Russian empire to instill hope in their compatriots, to give them some indication that a nation beyond the autocracy was achievable. This, in my opinion, is the role that Russian dissidents living in exile must have today.
They must provide the vision. They must provide the hope.
While they cannot change the system on their own—they need a movement en masse—the dissidents abroad are needed to demonstrate that a nation without Putin and his repressive regime is possible. This is certainly not an easy venture, and it will require extraordinary sacrifices to be made a reality. However, it may be the Russian people's only hope.
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Japan's southern islands on August 8 left some residents of the country in panic. Not from the tremor itself, which caused only a handful of minor injuries and quick-expiring tsunami alerts, but rather the unprecedented advisory from the Japanese Meteorological Agency warning of an elevated risk of a "megaquake" in the region over the coming weeks.
A "megaquake," short for a megathrust earthquake, is a type of temblor that occurs at a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate slips under another. A release of the tension that forms the thrust fault where the two plates meet can trigger some of the strongest earthquakes on the planet, measuring 9.0 or higher on the Richter scale, and produce large tsunamis.
It may sound a bit alarmist, but Isabel Hong, PhD, assistant professor in Villanova University's Department of Geography and the Environment, assures that "even though it is not possible to predict earthquakes, the advisory comes from a place of prior knowledge."
"We can't say for certain [when these earthquakes will happen]," she reiterated. "But probability suggests it could be more likely, in part because this smaller earthquake event occurred."
The acute event—last week's earthquake—is indeed the root of the alert, which was issued in the following hours. The quake's epicenter was located close to the end of the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone off the coast of Japan where the Philippine Sea Plate slips under the Eurasian Plate. The Nankai Trough has historically produced strong earthquakes, most recently an 8.0 tremor in 1946.
"Oftentimes, a large earthquake event can then trigger subsequent earthquakes," Dr. Hong said. "It can transfer stress to other faults that can make it more conducive for other earthquakes to then rupture, and that's the general belief of what's happening with the Nankai Trough right now."
To compound the acute disturbance last week, Japanese government officials had already previously warned of a 70-80 percent likelihood of a Nankai Trough earthquake measuring 8-9 on the scale within the next 30 years. That warning was the product of extensive research into the region's seismic history.
"All of the data that goes into [an advisory like that] is pulled from the work of dedicated scientists looking at past earthquake and tsunami deposits," said Dr. Hong, who herself studies prehistoric geohazards by analyzing their geologic trails along coasts. "This allows us to refine our understanding of the frequency of such events in a region. In this case, scientists can say, 'These happen about every 100 years, and it's already been over 70. Therefore, there's a higher probability another will occur in the next 30.'"
If it does, officials fear that a strong earthquake could trigger a massive tsunami that would reach the coast of Japan within minutes due to its proximity, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
"Tsunamis occur along active subduction zones like the Nankai Trough," Dr. Hong said. "They do have to be generated by a strong earthquake, yes, but more important in their impact to coastal communities is the shape of the coastline offshore. If they go from deep to shallow water very fast, the tsunami builds tall."
So, whether it appears alarmist or not, having the ability to study these seismic events in a way that can warn individuals of heightened risks should not be taken for granted, says Dr. Hong. Early warning signs and advisories for potential geohazards can save lives.
"One of the reasons we dig into the geologic past is to help inform people what could happen in the future."
During the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.E.), Memphis was the epicenter of Egyptian civilization.
A key strategic point in the Nile Delta region, it long served as the seat from which the Pharaoh ruled his domain, exerted his influence and marshaled his military might. Bustling with activity, it teemed with craftspeople, clerics and courtiers, and its whitewashed walls reverberated with the sounds of enterprise, exaltation and empire.
Four-and-a-half millennia later, sifting through the silent sands near Mit Rahina, Villanova University associate teaching professor Kelly-Anne Diamond, PhD, is working to recover the last traces of this once-thriving metropolis. In collaboration with a team of academics, graduate students and Egyptian artisans, she hopes to shed new light on what life was like in the "lost city" of Memphis—and to explore its long-buried connections to the present day.
The Memphis Kôm el-Fakhry Archaeological Project "We call our initiative the 'Memphis Kôm el-Fakhry Archaeological Project,' or 'MKAP' for short, and we're excavating one particular mound in a series that make up the ancient city," said Dr. Diamond, who co-directs the effort. "I was very excited when I was invited to join the project, especially at its inception. There aren't many settlement sites [like this one]. We could probably count them on one hand."
With its focus on "settled" land, MKAP is contributing to a growing body of research in Egyptology, or the study of ancient Egyptian history, culture and society, that centers on the experiences of everyday people. It's an area of significant interest for Dr. Diamond, who's previously investigated mourning traditions and sex and gender in the pharaonic era.
"Currently, most of our knowledge is about the king, his extended family and the people who worked for him," she said. "This is one of the reasons why I think working at Memphis is so fascinating. When you work at a settlement site, this is where you're going to find information about regular people—about women, about children, about the elderly, about family structure."
Already, MKAP has yielded findings that could challenge contemporary understandings of life in ancient Egypt. In particular, the discovery of an Old Kingdom-aged adult skeleton, within the bounds of the excavated mound, has spurred questions.
"What we found doesn't necessarily line up with what we currently believe about Old Kingdom burial practices, because other evidence suggests that where people lived and where people buried their dead were two separate locations," shared Dr. Diamond. "Generally, we say that they lived in Kemet—which is the 'black land,' or the land where there's very, very rich soil—and were interred in Deshret, or the 'desert.'
"Now, we do know that there was a First Intermediate Period (2181-2055 B.C.E.) cemetery at the site, adjacent to the settlement. We also know that, as the town progressed and people continued to live there, access to the cemetery was cut off. As we were going deeper into the settlement, which means that we were going into earlier levels, this is where we found the adult skeleton. The pottery in the area seems to suggest that we hit Old Kingdom levels, which would take us earlier than the First Intermediate Period cemetery.
"Potentially, we need to reevaluate what we know about Egyptian burial customs."
From the Past to the Present For some, the significance of a centuries-old corpse might be lost. And, in an age of smartphones, electric cars and highspeed Internet, the world in which the Memphians lived might seem on its face absolutely foreign. But, in unearthing the contents of the MKAP mound and in studying the minutiae of ancient life, Dr. Diamond sees important lessons—lessons that echo throughout time.
As she maintains, the remnants of communal meals, religious rituals and day-to-day work, and their existence in the distant past, serve as powerful reminders of our enduring humanity.
"One of the things I find, with my students, is that they're surprised that ancient Egypt was such a complex civilization," said Dr. Diamond. "They're surprised when we talk about technologies and social mobility—that these early people, whether improving on weapons and farming tools or seeking promotions, had a sense of progress, efficiency and change.
"But, most of all, they're surprised at how similar life in ancient Egypt was to what they experience on a regular basis today. And that's how I often introduce my courses: What you know about life, or life as you know it, started back in the ancient Near East, in Egypt and Mesopotamia. So, we can find the origins of all these things that we know by going back to the ancient Near East.
"And history did not start in Greece and Rome. We have to go back earlier."
Editor's note: Following the filming of the videos above, Dr. Diamond was promoted from assistant teaching professor to associate teaching professor.
