title: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

text: In the 4th and 5th games in the "Fire Emblem" video game series, Diarmuid is one of the heroes in the second generation of characters.


title: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

text: In the movie "Leap Year" (2010), the character Declan O'Callaghan tells Anna Brady the story of Diarmuid's love affair as they look at Ballycarbery Castle.


title: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

text: Diarmuid is a collectible unit in the mobile game "Age of Ishtaria". His gender has been swapped and she wields two swords named Moralltach and Beagalltach. Instead of a greyhound, her favored pet appears to be a black and white sheepdog.


title: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

text: Diarmuid appears in the light novel "Fate/Zero" and its 2011 anime adaptation as the Servant "Lancer", wielding his two spears, Gáe Buidhe and Gáe Dearg. While Gáe Buidhe retains its mythical ability of inflicting wounds that can never heal, Gáe Dearg is instead depicted with the ability to pierce magical defenses and negate certain magical abilities. Diarmuid's Lancer form returns in the mobile game based on the aforementioned series, "Fate/Grand Order", but can also be summoned as a "Saber" Servant and wields his dual blades, Beagalltach and Moralltach, rather than his spears. However, they hold a similar color scheme of red and yellow. Supplemental material for the light novel implies that Diarmuid's Master sought to summon him in the latter class.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Yohannes IV (Tigrinya: ዮሓንስ ፬ይ "Rabaiy Yōḥānnis"; horse name Abba Bezbiz; born "Lij" Kassa Mercha; 11 July 1837 – 10 March 1889) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1871 to his death in 1889 at the Battle of Gallabat, and king of Tigray from 1869 to 1871.


title: Yohannes IV

text: On the side of his father, Mercha Wolde Kidan, Yohannes descended from the ruling dynasty of Tembien where both his father and grandfather bore the traditional title of "šum Tembien", while his mother, Silas Dimtsu, was a daughter of "balgäda" Demtsu of Enderta and Tabotu Woldu of Agame, hence a niece of Sabagadis Woldu. He thus descended from the ruling families of Tembien, Agame, and Enderta. He also had connubial connections with some notables who came to his aid in the early stages: his cousin, Amlasu Araya Selassie, married "ras" Alula Engida who remained loyal to Yohannes throughout his life, another cousin Altash Wahad married "ras" Woldemichael Solomon who fought on his side in the second half of the 1860s, though later he became his opponent. His sister, Dinqnesh, was married first to "Wagšum" Gobeze (later "atse" Tekle Giyorgis) who supported his rebellion against "atse" Tewodros II in the late 1860s and later to "ras bitwädäd" Gebre Kidan, one of the leading supporters of Yohannes. His chroniclers further remotely connect him genealogically to the branches of the Solomonic dynasty in Gondar and Shewa. All these relationships contributed toward Yohannes's rise to power in the 1860s and 70s.


title: Yohannes IV

text: The story of the first half of his life is poorly documented. Even the date of his birth is uncertain; various sources place it between 1831 and 1837. The available sources merely indicate that he was the youngest of his siblings, that he had a seriously ailing childhood, that he received some church education, and that he was initiated to manhood after killing some wild animals (lions and/or elephants) for trophies. The first mention of his appearance in the political arena comes up in connection with his visit to the imperial court of Tewodros in 1864-65 in the company of his brothers, Gugsa and Maru. Gugsa was given the title of "däjazmač", and Maru that of "fit’awrari". The lowest title, of "balambaras", was bestowed upon Kaśa, who was subsequently assigned to administer a sub-district within the governorship of his elder brother, Gugsa.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Shortly after their return to Tigray, Kaśa rebelled against the rule of Tewodros. What prompted his rebellion is not well established. Often two explanations, which are not essentially contradictory, are forwarded by the sources: the first is related to his dissatisfaction with the rank and function given to him by the sovereign, while the second interprets his rebellion as a response to the appeal of "abunä" Salama who in 1867 wrote from prison to many notables condemning his perceived injustices of Tewodros. In any case, for some time his (together with his followers) retired to the eastern lowlands and found refuge among the Afar, from which ethnic group he married a Muslim after she had been baptized with the name Tebaba Sellasie. Returning to the highlands, he raised more men and began his military campaign: in the years 1864-67, he consecutively defeated "šum serye" Gebre Mikael, "däjazmač" Barya'u Gebre Sadeq of Adwa and "däjazmač" Tekle Giyorgis Qalos of Shire. Barya'u transferred his allegiance to Kaśa whom he served faithfully until he was killed in a battle some ten years later. Tekle Giyorgis (who had killed Kaśa's mother, Silass) fell in battle, and Kaśa subsequently assumed his title of "däjazmač". Kaśa then formed an alliance with "wag šum" Gobez Gebre Medhin of Lasta against Tewodros and began to harass the imperial representatives on both side of the Mareb. He defeated the governors of Selewa and Kilte Awulaelo. In Hamasien, "däjazmač" Haylu Tewolde Medhen, who contemplated resistance, was confined and replaced with "däjazmač" (later "ras") Woldemichael Solomon who had actively participated in Kaśa's military campaign against the imperial officials in Tigray.


title: Yohannes IV

text: By the time the British Napier expedition against Tewodros arrived in the region, Kaśa had attained full control of most of the then province of Tigray as well as of the Christian highlands of Eritrea. He had even begun to conquer the regions west of the Tekezé including Tselemt, Wolqayt, Tsegede and parts of Semien. Thus, the British needed his permission to cross his territory and reach Maqdala. Kaśa allowed them free passage as well as the privilege to purchase provisions from the local markets on condition that they left the country immediately after the mission. Upon their return from the Maqdala expedition, the British expressed their gratitude by giving him weapons for a present: "a battery of mountain guns and mortars and sufficient smooth-bore muskets for one regiment".


title: Yohannes IV

text: Following the death of Tewodros, his brother-in-law Gobeze Gebre Medhin had himself crowned as "nəgusä nägäst" Tekle Giyorgis II. He successfully suppressed rebellions of "ras" Wolde Maryam of Begemender and Fares Ali of Yejju, and reached a peace agreement with Menelik of Shewa (future "atse" Menelik II). Kaśa, however, refused to acknowledge the new metropolitan "abunä" Atnatyos sent from Alexandria in June 1869, and kept him in his dominion. Finally, on 11 July 1871, Tekle Giyorgis confronted Kaśa in a battle in the Battle of Assem, but was defeated and confined to Enda Abba Selama, Tembien, where he would die two years later. Upon vanquishing the rebellions of Wolde Iyasus in Azebo and Kaśa Golja on the northern peripheries, on 21 January 1872 Yohannes was crowned in Aksum as Yohannes IV by "abunä" Atnatyos. His seal also changed from "..."nəgusä mäkanənt"" ('head of the notables') to "..."nəgusä Səyon, nəgusä nəguśt zä Ityopya"" ('King of Zion, King of Kings of Ethiopia').


title: Yohannes IV

text: The principle of Yohannes's internal policy was to continue the legacy of Tewodros II by trying to unite Ethiopia. To ensure the realization of this policy, he toured each region and appointed governors, usually from the local nobility, regardless of their former attitudes toward him, as long as they submitted and expressed to him their unflinching loyalty. He thus managed, as the contemporary English vice-consul put it, "to hold the scales of justice with a firm and even hand"; "it was in 1884 the boast of King Yohannes that a child could pass through his dominions unharmed". In the first six years of his reign, he succeeded in achieving the unity of the predominantly Christian provinces, including Wag and Lasta, Semien and Begemder, Sayint, Gojjam, Wollo and Shewa. He crowned Menelik King of Shewa in 1878 and Tekle Haymanot King of Gojjam and Kaffa in 1881 and encouraged them to expand their empire to the south, east, and west. However, this advice created rivalry between the two regional kings, which came to a climax in the Battle of Embabo in June 1882. Yohannes reprimanded both of them for fighting without his permission, punished them by taking away a province from the jurisdiction of each of them and defined the direction of territories to be conquered by each of the two kings.


title: Yohannes IV

text: In the first ten years Yohannes had no fixed capital for his empire. He camped for about two and half months in Aksum at the time of his coronation, but there is no indication that he would make it the imperial capital. It seems that he intended to revive the tradition of a mobile capital of medieval Ethiopia. There were, nonetheless, three centers which he frequented: Adwa where he usually celebrated Meskel, Amba Chara and Semera, both of which were located in Begemder. In the early 1880s, however, he chose Mekelle as his center where he had a palace erected by an Italian craftsman, Giacomo Naretti.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Yohannes inherited the empire encumbered with three religious questions which provoked him to seek a solution: the internal dissensions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOC), Islam, and Christian foreign missionary activities. He regarded all of them as menaces to the unity and stability of the state.


title: Yohannes IV

text: By 1878, Yohannes was ready to tackle the problems by summoning a council at Boru Meda, Wollo. Most of the high dignitaries and notables of Ethiopia were present at the council. The leading theologians of the three major disputing groups of the EOC — "Karra" (predominant in the north), "Sägga" or "Śost Lədät" (prevalent in Begemeder and Shewa) and "Qəbat" (based in Gojjam and Lasta) — tried to defend their respective doctrines. Yohannes readily accepted corrections made by a notable on procedural matters. Apparently, he had a long-prepared plan for the council, as he had a letter from the patriarch of Alexandria read out at the end of the disputation which endorsed the imperial tenet. The policy transcended Yohannes's reign, though there were indications that the suppressed tenets had by no means been eradicated.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Throughout his reign, Yohannes was embroiled in military struggles on his northern frontiers. First was from Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt, who sought to bring the entire Nile River basin under his rule. The Egyptians flirted with encouraging Menelik of Shewa against the King, but earned Menelik's enmity by marching from the port of Zeila and occupying the city-state of Harar on 11 October 1875. Both Menelik and Yohannes had regarded Harar as a renegade province of Ethiopia, and Egyptian seizure of the Emirate was not welcome to either of them. The Egyptians then marched into northern Ethiopia from their coastal possessions around the port of Massawa. Yohannes pleaded with the British to stop their Egyptian allies and even withdrew from his own territory in order to show the Europeans that he was the wronged party and that the Khedive was the aggressor. However, Yohannes soon realized that the Europeans would not stop the Khedive of Egypt and so he gathered up his armies and marched to meet the Egyptian force.


title: Yohannes IV

text: The two armies met at Gundet (also called Guda-gude) on the morning of 16 November 1875. The Egyptians were tricked into marching into a narrow and steep valley and were wiped out by Ethiopian gunners surrounding the valley from the surrounding mountains. Virtually the entire Egyptian force, along with its many officers of European and North American background, were killed. News of this huge defeat was suppressed in Egypt for fear that it would undermine the government of the Khedive. A new Egyptian force was assembled and sent to avenge the defeat at Gundet. The Egyptians were defeated again at the Battle of Gura (7–9 March 1876), where the Ethiopians were led again by the Emperor, and his loyal general, the capable (and future "Ras") Alula Engida. This victory was followed by Menelik's submission to Yohannes on 20 March 1878, and in return, Yohannes recognized Menelik's hereditary right to the title of King ("Negus") of Shewa, and re-crowned him on 26 March. Yohannes took this opportunity to tie the Shewan King more closely to him by arranging for Menelik's daughter Zewditu (the future Empress of Ethiopia in her own right), to be married to his own son and heir, "Ras" Araya Selassie.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Emperor Yohannes also convened a general council of the Ethiopian Church at Boru Meda later in 1878, which brought an end to the ongoing theological dispute in the local church; Christians, Muslims, and pagans were given respectively two, three and five years to conform to the council's decisions. Non-Christians were forbidden from participating in the government unless they converted and were baptized; the Muslims were given three months, while the pagans had to become Christians immediately. "Having concluded that Wollo was worth a mass," as Harold Marcus wryly puts it, his retainer "Ras" Mohammed of Wollo became disobedient of the tax rules, which he and the entire Wollo refused to pay tax to the government in which Emperor Yohannes had discovered, "Ras" Mohammed was conspiring with the Turks the Ottoman empire because of his Muslim affiliation. "Ras" Mohammed was brought to Emperor Yohannes and was confronted of his conspiracy in helping the Muslim colonizer and to bring down the Judeo Christian empire. "Ras" Mohammed was siding with Muslim Affiliates of Turkey. After meeting with King Yohannes and in learning that if he were to assist the Turks, in the end, he and the rest of Ethiopia would become a slave to the Arab/Muslim world. "Ras Mohammed" then chose to become a Christian to later inherit a Christian name (later "Negus") Mikael of Wollo, the Emperor stood as his godfather at his baptism. The new convert was given Menelik of Shewa's other daughter, Shewarega Menelik, as his wife. Yohannes went one step further and pressured Menelik to expel all of the Roman Catholic missionaries from Shewa.


title: Yohannes IV

text: However this time, instead of a single Archbishop, he requested that Patriarch Cyril send four to serve the large number of Christians in Ethiopia, who arrived in 1881. They were led by "Abuna" Petros as Archbishop, "Abuna" Matewos for Shewa, "Abuna" Luqas for Gojjam and "Abuna" Markos for Gondar. "Abuna" Markos died shortly after arriving, so his diocese was included with that of "Abuna" Atnatewos. It was the first time that the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria had appointed four Bishops for Ethiopia.


title: Yohannes IV

text: When Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi (a prophesied Islamic leader who would precede the Day of Judgement), and incited Sudan into a long and violent revolt, his followers successfully drove part of the Egyptian garrisons out of Sudan and isolated the rest at Suakin and at various posts in the south. Yohannes agreed to British requests to allow these Egyptian soldiers to evacuate through his lands, with the understanding that the British Empire would then support his claims on important ports like Massawa on the Red Sea to import weapons and ammunition in the event that Egypt was forced to withdraw from them. This was formalized in a treaty signed with the British at Adwa known as the Hewett Treaty. According to the treaty, the Ethiopians would allow the Egyptians to safely evacuate out of certain cities such as Kassala, which aggravated the Mahdists even more. "Ras" Alula defeated an invading Mahdist army at the Battle of Kufit on 23 September 1885. About the same time, Italy took control of the port of Massawa, frustrating Ethiopian hopes and angering Yohannes. Yohannes attempted to work out some kind of understanding with the Italians, so he could turn his attention to the more pressing problem of the Mahdists, although "Ras" Alula took it upon himself to attack Italian units that were on both sides of the ill-defined frontier between the two powers. Domestic problems increased when the Neguses of both Gojjam and Shewa rebelled against Yohannes, and the Emperor had to turn his attention from the encroaching Italians to deal with his rebellious vassals. Yohannes brutally crushed the Gojjame rebellion, but before he could turn his attention to Shewa news arrived that the Mahdist forces had sacked Gondar and burned its holy churches. He marched north from Gojjam to confront the armies of the Mahdi.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Yohannes was killed by Mahdist Sudanese at the Battle of Gallabat that took place on 9–10 March 1889 in Metemma near the Sudanese border. Evidence suggests that Emperor Yohannes had acted rashly and had made himself vulnerable, going beyond enemy lines in a range of enemy shots as victory was going to his side. Mortally wounded from a gunshot, he had been carried to his tent, where he announced that his nephew "Ras" Mengesha was actually his natural son, and named him his heir (his elder son "Ras" Araya Selassie had died a few years earlier). He died hours later. Although the Ethiopian army had almost annihilated their opponents in this battle, hearing that their ruler had been slain shattered their morale and they were scattered by the nearly beaten Sudanese army.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Yohannes's body was carried back to Tigray guarded by a small party, who were overtaken by the Mahdist troops of Zeki Tummal near the Atbara River, who captured the sovereign's body. Augustus B. Wylde, who claimed to have heard the story from a priest who managed to escape the slaughter, wrote how Yohannes' uncle "Ras" Araya stood beside the body of his dead master with "a few of his soldiers and the bravest of the king's servants, who had lost their all, and had no more prospects to live for".


title: Yohannes IV

text: According to Wylde, as he saw death come "Ras" Areya announced "that he was now old and done for, that his time had come, and it was useless at his age to serve another master that he knew little about, and it was better to die like a man fighting unbelievers, than like a mule in a stable." The Mahdists brought the Emperor's body back to their capital at Omdurman, where the head was put on a pike and paraded through the streets.


title: Yohannes IV

text: On 2 May of the same year 1889, Emperor Menelik signed then the Treaty of Wuchale with the Italians which later on led to the Battle of Adwa.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Although a group of Tigrean nobles led by "Ras" Alula attempted to promote the claim of "Ras" Mengesha Yohannes (the "natural" son of Yohannes) as Emperor, many of the dead monarch's other relatives on both the Enderta and Tembien sides of his family objected and went into open rebellion against Mengesha. Many refused to accept "Ras" Mengesha as the son of Yohannes, having long known him as his nephew. Tigray was torn assunder by the rebellions of various members of the Emperor's family against Mengesha and each other. Menelik of Shewa took advantage of Tigrean disorder, and after the Italians occupied Hamasien, (a district Yohannes IV had bestowed upon "Ras" Alula) he was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia as Menelik II. The death of Yohannes reduced the influence of Tigrayans in the Ethiopian government and opened the way for Italians to occupy more districts previously held by Tigrayan nobles. The seizures made by the Italians at this time ultimately resulted in the creation of the colony of Eritrea and the defeat of Italy at the Battle of Adwa at the hands of Emperor Menelik II. The Tigrean nobility retained influence at the Imperial court of Menelik and his successors, although not at the level they enjoyed under Yohannes IV. The descendants of Yohannes ruled Tigray as hereditary Princes until the Ethiopian Revolution and the fall of the monarchy in 1974 ended their rule.


title: Yohannes IV

text: There are two lines of descent from Yohannes IV, one "legitimate" and one "natural." The legitimate line is through his elder son, "Ras" Araya Selassie Yohannes. Araya Selassie Yohannes was born to his wife Wolete Selassie. The son of Araya Selassie Yohannes was "Ras" Gugsa Araya Selassie. His son was the infamous "Dejazmach" Haile Selassie Gugsa who governed eastern Tigray in the 1930s and was married to Emperor Haile Selassie's daughter Princess Zenebework Haile Selassie. However, following the death of his wife, "Dejazmatch" Haile Selassie Gugsa's relationship with Emperor Haile Selassie deteriorated, and in 1936, "Dejazmatch" Haile Selassie became the first high-ranking Ethiopian nobleman to defect to the Italians when the Fascist forces invaded Ethiopia. The people of Mekelle ransacked his house when this news was revealed. He was elevated to the title of "Ras" by the King of Italy. However, following the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941, Haile Selassie Gugsa was placed under house arrest and regarded as a traitor. Emperor Haile Selassie refused to acknowledge the title of "Ras" granted to his former son-in-law by the King of Italy, and so he reverted to the title of "Dejazmatch". He was freed by the Derg regime in 1974 following the fall of the monarchy. He died shortly thereafter. There are other descendants of Emperor Yohannes IV in this "legitimate" line, but because of the wartime actions of "Dejazmatch" Haile Selassie Gugsa, this branch of the family fell into disfavor at the Imperial court and lost its position and influence.


title: Yohannes IV

text: The second, "natural" line is through "Ras" Mengesha Yohannes and is the better-known line. Although "Ras" Mengesha Yohannes ended his days under house arrest for his repeated rebelling against Emperor Menelik II. Ras Mengesha's son "Ras" Seyoum Mengesha first became governor of western Tigray, and following the treason of his cousin "Dejazmatch" Haile Selassie Gugsa, became Governor ("Shum") of all of Tigray in 1936. He commanded troops against the Italians, but was forced to surrender and spent most of the Italian occupation under house arrest in Addis Ababa. Following the return of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1941, "Ras" Seyoum was restored to his governorate of Tigray, recognized as the hereditary Prince of that province. "Ras" Seyoum Mengesha was killed during the abortive coup by the Imperial Bodyguard in 1960 and was succeeded by his son "Ras" Mengesha Seyoum who served as Governor and hereditary Prince of Tigray until the 1974 Revolution toppled the Ethiopian monarchy. Ras Mengesha Seyoum is married to Princess Aida Desta, a granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie and is the current head of the Tigrean branch of the Solomonic dynasty. Mengesha Seyum is the last person alive today who bears the title of "Leul Ras".


title: Yohannes IV

text: Yohannes undoubtedly had his weaknesses; they were not his own making, but rather imposed on him either by external pressure or inherited by his deep-seated values and traditional norms. During the eighteen years of his reign, he was preoccupied with defending his country against external aggressions perpetrated by the Egyptians, the Italians, and the Mahdists. Yohannes succeeded to a large extent in pacifying the country and expanding the empire by the device of power-sharing and accommodation. Guiding principles of his administration were patience, tolerance, and forgiveness, as well as a tendency to preserve the status quo. Above all, his concerns were focused on promoting peace the external threats rather than promoting his own personal or dynastic gain.


title: Yohannes IV

text: The way he shared his authority with Menelik and Tekle Haymanot eventually resulted in undermining his own authority, but it contributed greatly to accelerating the process of reunification of the Ethiopian Empire. By preserving the status quo in the regional administration, the uncertainty and fear which were prevalent under previous reigns due to constant changes were reduced. The self-confidence and charitable attitude he displayed toward his vanquished enemies and rivals earned him the high esteem of his subjects.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Early in his career after he defeated and seized "Dejazmatch" Gabre Mikael of Seraye, who was responsible for the death of his own mother Woizero Silas Dimtsu, not only did he forgive him, but within a year, Gabre Mikael was reinstated as councilor and appeared as one of the important dignitaries during the mission of Major Grant to Adwa, in February 1868. Subsequently, Gabre Mikael's son, "Dejazmach" Birru, also held important posts. "Ras" Adal of Gojjam, after he killed his own cousin, "Ras" Desta Tedla Gualu, the newly appointed governor by Yohannes and submitted to Yohannes and asked for forgiveness, not only was he forgiven but he was given the command over Gojjam and eventually elevated as King of Gojjam and Keffa, under the name of Tekle Haymanot.


title: Yohannes IV

text: King Menelik's ambition to seize the imperial crown was clearly evident since his escape from Mäqdalä and return to Shoa, in 1865. The submission of Menelik to Yohannes was not effected until 1878 after Yohannes gained substantial advantage over his rivals in terms of quality and quantity of firearms as a result of the booty gathered in his successive victories over the Egyptian army at Gundet and Gurae, in 1875 and 1876, respectively. This advantage remained on Yohannes's side throughout his reign. Despite repeated pressure from his advisers on two occasions, in 1878, at the time of Menelik's submission and in 1881, after his two vassal kings, Menelik and Teklé Haymanot fought against each other at Embabo, to remove Menelik and replace him if need be, by one of his cousins, such as Meshesha Seifu, Yohannes refused to yield on grounds that he was not going to destroy an effective power, which Menelik diligently built up for the sake of eliminating a possible threat to himself. Finally, Yohannes heard that both his vassal kings have defected and during his campaign in Gojjam, Tekle Haymant confessed that they had concluded an agreement to help one another and rebel against the authority of the Emperor. At this juncture, the temptation was great to cross the Abbay River (Blue Nile) to Showan territory and eliminate the internal threat. Yohannes's priority, however, was to avert the external threat and he decided to face the Mahdists who had penetrated twice as far as Gonder and burnt the churches, pillaged the country, and enslaved people.


title: Yohannes IV

text: Throughout his reign, Yohannes demonstrated selfless devotion to the defense of the territorial integrity of Ethiopian Empire against successive waves of external aggression, by Egyptians, Italians, and Mahdists Sudan. He also strove within the parameters of what was possible in his day to promote the welfare of his people. His devotion to his country and people culminated in the supreme sacrifice of his life at the border of his empire, in the Battle of Metemma.


title: Yohannes IV

text: "His Imperial Majesty John IV, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, za'imnaggada yīhūda, nigūsa TSion, nigūsa nagast za'ītyōṗṗyā, siyūma 'igzī'a'bihēr").


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" follows a group of human refugees who attempt to recolonize Earth 20,000 years after the planet was taken over by Godzilla. The film was released theatrically in Japan on November 17, 2017, and was released worldwide on Netflix on January 17, 2018. It was followed by two sequels, "" and "", both of which were released in 2018.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: In the last summer of the 20th century, giant monsters began plaguing Earth and humanity is driven to near extinction by one monster which eliminated the others: Godzilla. Two alien races with ulterior motives, the religious and the technologically advanced , came to Earth and offered their assistance against Godzilla. After the Bilusaludo's gambit with Mechagodzilla failed before it could be activated, both the aliens and humanity were forced to abandon Earth and emigrate to Tau-e via the spaceship . The time is now 20 years after the exodus from Earth and 11.9 light years away, and the "Aratrum" contains the remaining humans accompanied by Exif and Bilusaludo refugees.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: Captain Haruo Sakaki bears a seething hatred towards Godzilla, which killed his parents during the exodus from Earth. He believes the planet selected for colonization, Tau-e, is uninhabitable and tries to force the ship's committee to rescind the order to send the elderly, including his grandfather, to scout the planet. Haruo is arrested and then witnesses the exploratory shuttle explode while entering the planet's atmosphere. He then anonymously publishes a classified essay on Godzilla's weak points provided by the Exif priest named Metphies. This sways public opinion among the population forcing the central committee into returning to Earth after deciding that they are unlikely to find another habitable world.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: The "Aratrum" arrives in Earth orbit and sends reconnaissance drones to scout the surface which reveal that Godzilla is still alive. Metphies arranges Haruo's bail and he explains to the committee that Godzilla has a vulnerability. It is an electromagnetic pulse-producing organ in its body which generates an asymmetrical permeable shield making it impervious to all damage except for a short period when the organ recycles. Haruo proposes using that window to crack the shield organ and quickly implant an EMP probe into Godzilla to cause an implosion from the resulting energy buildup. He stresses that close quarters combat would be needed for accurately coordinated attacks in order to find the organ and requests a force of 600 people to implement the plan.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: When Haruo and the two battalions reach Earth's surface, they learn that almost 20,000 years have elapsed due to relativistic effects. Also, Godzilla's presence on the planet has radically altered Earth's biosphere. They suffer losses and damage to their landing ships by flying creatures called Servums. The remaining troops mobilize and soon encounter Godzilla. Haruo proceeds with the original plan on his own and attacks Godzilla before Leland intervenes and provoke Godzilla, his death allowing the others to learn Godzilla's weak point is its dorsal fins. Command falls to Metphies, who promotes Haruo to commander as the human convinces the remaining survivors to continue with the plan and defeat Godzilla.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: The group manage to trap Godzilla within a collapsed mountain pass, where they succeed in killing the monster. However, it appears to only be an offspring and the original Godzilla, which has grown to 300m in height, emerges from beneath a nearby mountain and destroys most of the remaining crew. Trapped beneath rubble, Haruo watches Godzilla leave while vowing to kill it before losing consciousness.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: In a post-credits scene, Haruo wakes up in a secluded area and sees an indigenous girl standing next to him.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: In August 2016, Toho announced that an animated "Godzilla" film was being developed, targeted for a 2017 release. Gen Urobuchi was announced as the writer, Kobun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita as the directors, and Polygon Pictures was announced as the studio that would animate the film. In January 2017, Urobuchi announced the main cast on his Twitter account. In March 2017, Toho announced that the film would be the first film in a new trilogy.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: About the production, co-director Shizuno stated, "From the start, we had the blessing of Toho to not be constrained by previous entries in the franchise, and with the freedom of imagination offered by animation I feel we have come up with a cool new form for Godzilla." On Godzilla's new design, co-director Seshita stated, "With his masses of muscle fibers and unique body tissue to support his enormous bulk, this is an extraordinarily rugged-looking physique. It was an overwhelming presence that reverberated through the whole project, like a fearsome deity that even we who created it must prostrate ourselves before. That is our Godzilla." The English dub was produced by Post Haste Digital.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: Takayuki Hattori composed the film's soundtrack, marking it his third "Godzilla" film score. XAI performed the film's theme "White Out".


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: A stage event for the film was held at AnimeJapan 2017 on March 26, 2017. That same month, a teaser poster revealed that the film will be released theatrically in Japan on November 17, 2017. The film's directors attended the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to reveal more details regarding the film. In June 2017, a new poster detailing Godzilla's design was revealed with the tagline "Despair Evolves". In August 2017, a new trailer and poster were released with the tagline "Who will go extinct — humans, or Godzilla?"


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" was given a theatrical release in Japan on November 17, 2017. In March 2017, it was announced that the film will be streamed in 190 countries via Netflix following the film's Japanese theatrical release. Greg Peters, President of Netflix Japan stated, "Working with the best creators such as Toho in bringing Godzilla to Netflix users in over 190 countries marks a major milestone for us". In January 2018, Netflix announced that the film will be released worldwide on their platform on January 17, 2018.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" reached #3 at the Japanese box office on its opening weekend, earning ¥103 million from 71,200 admissions within two days. By its third weekend, it had grossed ($3,052,062). Upon its Chinese release in 2018, the film grossed () at the Chinese box office, bringing the film's total box office gross to in East Asia.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: Brian Ashcraft of the "Kotaku" website felt that the characters "aren’t all that interesting" but did state that the "anime version of Godzilla is surprisingly effective and frightening" and that despite his complaints, the "overall experience was good" and "It’s not a perfect picture, but it was a powerful proof of concept: Godzilla works as an anime." Matt Schley from "The Japan Times" praised the film's CG animation, stating, "even skeptics will admit the 3-D version of the king of the monsters looks pretty darn cool" but felt the film wasn't "nearly as thematically ambitious as its predecessor" and concluded by stating, "But still, with its impressive 3-D animation and action sequences, 'Planet of the Monsters' has the makings of something interesting." Callum May from "Anime News Network" gave the film an overall B+ rating, calling the film "not for the uninitiated". May criticized the character of Haruo as being "grating", as the film didn't allow audiences to connect with other characters but praised the animation, call it Polygon's "best-looking CG title yet" and concluded that the film "is a thrilling film that lives up to the reputation of the franchise and delivers on its science fiction premise".


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: Mike Cecchini from "Den of Geek" felt the film was "beautifully animated" but criticized the characters, feeling they weren't sympathetic or well-developed. He also felt the technological dialogue felt more like it came from a video game but concluded by stating, "But Planet of the Monsters is just so damn gorgeous to look at, and such a complete departure from what you usually expect from this world, that you should just take it all in and enjoy the surprises." Patrick Galvan from "Syfy Wired" called the film "dull", criticizing the lack of human drama, the poorly developed world-building, and the writing, stating, "the writing is sadly not strong enough to even work on its own terms." He concluded by stating, "With a more polished script, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters might've been something of a modern classic. As is, it's a largely dull, impersonal product with only a few bursts of genuine interest to its name."


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: Jonathan Barkan from "Dread Central" gave the film 2 stars out of 5, feeling that the film has "great potential" but is "bland". He criticized the characters as being "forgettable", the film's was lack of exploring its "imaginative opportunities", called the animation's color scheme "flat and uninteresting" and felt some of the action scenes were too shaky. He concluded by stating, "Suffice it to say that it definitely has me interested in the second and third films but I really hope that this new world will be explored further in those entries. Otherwise, we’ve got a fascinating foundation that will be squandered." Paul Thomas Chapman from "Otaku USA" called the film a "train wreck". He criticized the film for dedicating various scenes to "nonstop barrage of technobabble and exposition" and criticized the character development for not exploring the inner lives of other characters. He concluded by stating the film "is not an easy film to recommend to either casual fans or to battle-hardened kaiju otaku. But despite its (many, glaring) flaws". Despite his criticism, Chapman "enjoyed" the film regardless.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: In Japan, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Toho Video on May 16, 2018. It sold 5,813 Blu-ray units within its first week, and 1,784 DVD units within two weeks.


title: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

text: "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" is the first film in the anime trilogy. The second film in the trilogy, titled "" was released on May 18, 2018. The third and final film in the trilogy, titled "", was released on November 9, 2018.


title: 2005–06 FC Barcelona season

text: The 2005–06 season was Futbol Club Barcelona's 107th season in existence and 77th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football, La Liga. It was manager Frank Rijkaard's third season in charge of the club, a season in which he managed to successfully retain the La Liga title, as well as winning the UEFA Champions League and Spanish Super Cup. The squad was largely unchanged from the previous season, with only two players – Santiago Ezquerro and Mark van Bommel – joining the club. Gerard left on a free transfer during the summer.


title: 2005–06 FC Barcelona season

text: Samuel Eto'o was once again the top scorer for the team, improving on his tally of 29 goals from the 2004–05 season by five goals, including one in the Champions League final. Ronaldinho and Eto'o were selected in the 2005–06 FIFPro XI at the end of the season.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed Susan, is a North American flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Eastern and Central North America and naturalized in the Western part of the continent as well as in China. It has now been found in all 10 Canadian Provinces and all 48 of the states in the contiguous United States.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: "Rudbeckia hirta" is an upright annual (sometimes biennial or perennial) growing tall by wide. It has alternate, mostly basal leaves 10–18 cm long, covered by coarse hair, with stout branching stems and daisy-like, composite flower heads appearing in late summer and early autumn. In the species, the flowers are up to in diameter, with yellow ray florets circling conspicuous brown or black, dome-shaped cone of many small disc florets. However, extensive breeding has produced a range of sizes and colours, including oranges, reds and browns.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: The specific epithet "hirta" is Latin for “hairy”, and refers to the trichomes occurring on leaves and stems. Other common names for this plant include: brown-eyed Susan, brown betty, gloriosa daisy, golden Jerusalem, English bull's eye, poor-land daisy, yellow daisy, and yellow ox-eye daisy.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: "Rudbeckia hirta" is widely cultivated in parks and gardens, for summer bedding schemes, borders, containers, wildflower gardens, prairie-style plantings and cut flowers. Numerous cultivars have been developed, of which 'Indian Summer' and 'Toto' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Other popular cultivars include 'Double Gold' and 'Marmalade'.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: Gloriosa daisies are tetraploid cultivars having much larger flower heads than the wild species, often doubled or with contrasting markings on the ray florets. They were first bred by Alfred Blakeslee of Smith College by applying colchicine to "R. hirta" seeds; Blakeslee's stock was further developed by W. Atlee Burpee and introduced to commerce at the 1957 Philadelphia Flower Show. Gloriosa daisies are generally treated as annuals or short-lived perennials and are typically grown from seed, though there are some named cultivars.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: The black-eyed Susan was designated the state flower of Maryland in 1918. In this capacity it is used in gardens and ceremonies to celebrate, memorialize and show affection for the state of Maryland and its people. The Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland, has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a blanket of Viking Poms, a variety of chrysanthemums resembling black-eyed Susans, is traditionally placed around the winning horse's neck (actual black-eyed Susans are not in bloom in May during the Preakness).


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: In 1912, the black-eyed Susan became the inspiration for the University of Southern Mississippi school colors (black and gold), suggested by Florence Burrow Pope, a member of the university's first graduating class. According to Pope: “On a trip home, I saw great masses of Black-Eyed Susans in the pine forests. I decided to encourage my senior class to gather Black-Eyed Susans to spell out the name of the class on sheets to be displayed during exercises on Class Day. I then suggested black and gold as class colors, and my suggestion was adopted."


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: Butterflies are attracted to "Rudbeckia hirta". It is a larval host to the bordered patch, gorgone checkerspot, and silvery checkerspot species.


title: Rudbeckia hirta

text: The plant is thought to be an herbal medicine by Native American for various ailments. The roots but not the seedheads of "Rudbeckia hirta" can be used much like the related "Echinacea purpurea" with unsubstantiated claims to boost immunity and fight colds, flu and infections. The Ojibwa people used it as a poultice for snake bites and to make an infusion for treating colds and worms in children.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: After a 20-year hiatus of severed ties, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the formal normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 11, 1995. Subsequent to President Clinton's normalization announcement, in August 1995, both countries upgraded their Liaison Offices opened during January 1995 to Embassy status, with the United States later opening the Consulate General of the United States, Ho Chi Minh City, while Vietnam opened a consulate in San Francisco. The U.S. also lifted its 30-year trade embargo on Vietnam in February 1994.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: U.S. relations with Vietnam have become deeper and more diverse in the years since political normalization. The two countries have broadened their political exchanges through regular and regional security. The annual Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue resumed in 2006 after a two-year hiatus. They signed a Bilateral Trade Agreement in July 2000, which went into force in December 2001. In 2003, the two countries signed a Counternarcotics Letter of Agreement (amended in 2006), a Civil Aviation Agreement, and a textile agreement. In January 2007, Congress approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for Vietnam. In July 2015, the United States hosted Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng in the first-ever visit of a Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary to the United States following a concerted effort by the Obama administration to pursue warmer relations with Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: As such, despite their historical past, today Vietnam is considered to be a potential ally of the United States, especially in the geopolitical context of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and in containment of Chinese expansionism. Also, Vietnam is globally one of the countries with the most favorable public opinion regarding the US, the only communist one, perhaps. Since the normalisation of relations in 1995, every U.S. president has visited Vietnam at least once, highlighting the importance of Vietnam in the United States' pivot to Asia; these visits have been strongly welcomed by the Vietnamese populace despite political differences.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Vietnamese Americans, making up more than 2.1 million people, are mostly immigrants who moved to the United States after the Vietnam War and comprise nearly half of all overseas Vietnamese, even though they are mostly loyal to the fallen South Vietnam instead of the communist government.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In 1829, US President Andrew Jackson sent a diplomatic delegation led by Edmund Roberts on the USS Peacock to the kingdom of Vietnam to establish bilateral relations and expand trade between the two countries. The ship arrived in Vũng Lấm, Phú Yên province on 2 January 1833. The ruler of Vietnam at the time, emperor Minh Mạng was not eager to allow foreigners to freely enter Vietnam and engage in trade. The emperor required that Americans follow Vietnamese laws, and only allowed them to do business in Da Nang, central Vietnam. After receiving this unwelcome message, Edmund Roberts's delegation left Vietnam. The American-Vietnamese relationship remained frozen after many disagreements and tensions from 1836 to 1859. This lasted until 1873, when Vietnam had trouble fighting against the invading French forces in northern Vietnam. Emperor Tự Đức appointed Foreign Minister Bùi Viện as "Grand Emissary" and sent him to the United States to seek support and aid against the French Empire. The diplomatic delegation passed through Yokohama, Japan, then arrived in San Francisco in mid-1873. Bùi Viện and the Vietnamese emissaries came to Washington D.C. and met with US President Ulysses Grant. The President promised aid and an alliance with Vietnam. However, the US Congress cancelled Grant's intervention in Vietnam. In 1884, Vietnam was completely conquered by France.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The United States and Vietnam had relations during World War II, though this was with the Viet Minh rebels and not with France's colony of Vietnam, when a group of American agents of the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, landed in Vietnam and met with the future leader of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, who was the leader of the Viet Minh and fiercely pro-American. The agent group, led by Archimedes Patti, had co-operated together in French Indochina against Japan. The Viet Minh had given shelter to the American agents. The People's Army of Vietnam, founded at 1944 in mountainous Northwest Vietnam, had been backed and supported by the OSS and trained by American military personnel including Archimedes Patti, a pro-Vietnamese OSS officer. The first commander of the future PAVN was Võ Nguyên Giáp, who was trained under the watch of the Americans.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The surprise relations between the communist-backed Viet Minh and the OSS marked the beginning of US involvement in Vietnam. In those days, the United States, sympathizing with Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh, supported the group in order to overthrow Japanese rule in Indochina. Later, Ho Chi Minh asked to set up an alliance with the United States, which was approved by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt with support from U. S. General Dwight Eisenhower. However, following a series of incidents in Vietnam including the killing of A. Peter Dewey, a pro-Vietnamese independence officer of the OSS by the Viet Minh, as well as the sudden death of Roosevelt, which brought Harry S. Truman to power, it was never established.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The actions of North Vietnam in breaking the peace treaty with South Vietnam in 1955 abruptly concluded three decades of United States intervention in Vietnam and brought to a close a painful and bitter era for both countries. From 1954 to 1975 the United States Military was involved in the development of Vietnam. With fears that the United States would lose Vietnam to communism, the country was divided at the 17th parallel, creating temporarily separate states, the North being communist and the South as a non-communist state. While the southern province had the support of the United States, billions of American dollars were spent in efforts to modernize the country. This involvement increased tensions between the two provinces, resulting in the second Indochina War, otherwise known to the Western World as the "Vietnam War". In "Tours of Vietnam: War, Travel Guides and Memory", by Scott Laderman, he argues that calling the second Indochina War the Vietnam War "is to thus reveal a certain bias. Should we therefore call it the "American War?" (ix) The war generated considerable social and political discord in the United States, massive disruption in Vietnam, and was enormously costly to both sides. Vietnam endured physical destruction—ravaged battle sites, leveled factories and cities, and untold numbers of military and civilian casualties. The United States escaped physical devastation, but it suffered the loss of 58,000 lives (2,400 unaccounted for) and spent roughly $140 billion ($950 billion in 2011) in direct expenses to build infrastructure, train an army and police force and modernize the young country. The war polarized and disillusioned American society during and after the conflict. For instance, in 1964 the "Gulf of Tonkin incident" which many have attributed to overzealous radar officers aboard the USS Maddox, was used as extra justification for Congress' decision to allow the then president, Lyndon B. Johnson, to take any necessary retaliatory measures. A large scandal sprung up and documentaries were produced to argue one side or the other of this controversy.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: To the Vietnamese communists, the war against the United States simply extended the war for independence initiated against the French. In Hanoi's view, when the United States displaced the French in Indochina, it assumed the French role as a major-power obstacle to Vietnam's eventual reunification under the North's Communist rule.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: For the United States, intervention was primarily derived from political ideology (i.e. the Cold War) considerations that largely transcended Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: United States involvement in Vietnam was driven by many factors, including: ideology, Cold War strategy as well inheriting a colonial legacy from the 4th Republic of France, one of its major allies. There were two major drivers: anticommunist considerations and anticolonialist considerations. Where there was little risk of Communist involvement, for example, in the Anglo-French Suez Canal adventure of 1956, against Egypt, the United States would often intervene forcefully—even against their strongest allies—on behalf of the principles of self-determination and sovereignty for all nations.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In the closing months of World War II, the United States had supported the idea of an international trusteeship for all of Indochina. Subsequently, in spite of misgivings in Washington about French intentions to reimpose colonial rule in Indochina, the United States was reluctantly forced to support French colonialism in order to assure it as an ally against a potential Soviet threat. Anticolonial sentiment in the United States after World War II thus failed to outweigh policy priorities in Europe, such as the evolving North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) relationship. The formal creation of NATO and the communist victory in China, both of which occurred in 1949, led the United States to support materially the French war effort in Indochina. The perception that communism was global and monolithic led the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to support the idea of a noncommunist state in southern Vietnam, after the French withdrawal under the Geneva Agreements of 1954.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Although this goal arguably ran counter to two key features of the Geneva Agreements (the stipulation that the line separating North and South Vietnam be neither a political nor territorial boundary and the call for reunification elections), it was based on the United States assessment that the Viet minh—which, contrary to the agreements, had left several thousand cadres south of the demarcation line—was already in violation. The first United States advisers arrived in the South within a year after Geneva to help President Ngo Dinh Diem establish a government that would be strong enough to stand up to the communist regime in the North.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Although Washington's advisory role was essentially political, United States policy makers determined that the effort to erect a non-communist state in Vietnam was vital to the security of the region and would be buttressed by military means, if necessary, to inhibit any would-be aggressor. Defending Vietnam's security against aggression from the North and from southern-based communist insurgency was a mission Washington initially perceived as requiring only combat support elements and advisers to South Vietnamese military units. The situation, however, rapidly deteriorated, and in 1965, at a time when increasing numbers of North Vietnamese-trained soldiers were moving in South Vietnam, the first increment of United States combat forces was introduced into the South and sustained bombing of military targets in North Vietnam was undertaken. Nearly eight more years of conflict occurred before the intense involvement of the United States ended in 1973.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: An "Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" was signed in Paris on January 27, 1973, by Washington, Hanoi, Saigon, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government, representing the Vietnamese communist organization in the South, the Viet Cong. The settlement called for a cease-fire, withdrawal of all United States troops, continuance in place of North Vietnamese troops in the South, and the eventual reunification of the country "through peaceful means." In reality, once United States Forces were disengaged in early 1973 and effectively barred from providing any military assistance whatsoever under the so-called "Case-Church Amendment", there was no effective way to prevent the North from overwhelming the South's defenses and the settlement proved unenforceable. The Case–Church Amendment was legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in June 1973 that prohibited further U.S. military activity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia unless the president secured Congressional approval in advance. With both the Senate and House under Democratic control, approval of any renewed air support for the South was virtually impossible. Following the fragile cease-fire established by the agreement, PAVN units remained in the South Vietnamese countryside, while Army of the Republic of Vietnam units fought to dislodge them and expand the areas under Saigon's control. The last U.S. combat troops left in March 1973. Despite the treaty, there was no let-up in fighting. South Vietnamese massive advances against the Viet Cong controlled territory inspired their opponents to change their strategy. In March, communist leaders met in Hanoi for a series of meetings to hammer out plans for a massive offensive against the South. In June 1973, the U.S. Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment to prohibit further U.S. military involvement, so the PAVN supply routes were able to operate normally without fear of U.S. bombing. As a result, the two sides battled from 1973 to 1975, but the ARVN, having to fight without the close United States air, artillery, logistical, and medevac (medical evacuation) support to which it had become accustomed, and without the financial support to pay its troops or supply them properly, acquitted itself badly, losing more and more ground to the Nationalist pro-Soviet forces which were supported by the Soviet Union and Communist China. General Vo Nguyen Giap of North Vietnam has been reported to have stated that the North planned to test the United States' resolution and in the spring of 1975, Giáp sent four star General Văn Tiến Dũng to launch the deadly attack on Buôn Ma Thuột. Despite the frantic pleas by South Vietnam, the Democratic controlled U.S. Congress blocked any attempts at aid to the South. Upon receiving word of this, Giap launched the planned invasion of the South.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The surprisingly swift manner in which the South Vietnamese government finally collapsed in 1975 is argued by some to confirm that the Paris agreement had accomplished little more than to delay an inevitable defeat for the United States ally, South Vietnam, and that Washington had been impotent to avert this outcome. The situation in Vietnam was no different than that in the divided Korea, except that there was no bar to support from the U.S. in the event of an invasion by the communist North as there was in Vietnam. Further, there was no continuing United Nations support for South Vietnam as there was in South Korea, although South Korea sent troops in to aid in the Vietnam War effort.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Following the war, Hanoi pursued the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, initially in order to obtain US$3.3 billion in reconstruction aid, which President Richard M. Nixon had secretly promised after the Paris Agreement was signed in 1973. Nixon's promise was in the form of a letter offering a specific figure. In June 1975, barely two months after Hanoi's victory, Premier Phạm Văn Đồng, speaking to the National Assembly, invited the United States to normalize relations with Vietnam and to honor its commitment to provide reconstruction funds. Representatives of two American banks—the Bank of America and First National City Bank—were invited to Hanoi to discuss trade possibilities, and American oil companies were informed that they were welcome to apply for concessions to search for oil in offshore Vietnamese waters.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Washington neglected Đồng's call for normal relations, however, because it was predicated on reparations, and the Washington political climate in the wake of the war precluded the pursuit of such an outcome. In response, the administration of President Gerald R. Ford imposed its own precondition for normal relations by announcing that a full accounting of Americans missing in action, including the return of any remains, would be required before normalization could be effected. No concessions were made on either side until President Jimmy Carter softened the United States demand from a full accounting of MIAs to the fullest possible accounting and dispatched a mission to Hanoi in 1977 to initiate normalization discussions.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Although the Vietnamese at first were adamant about United States economic assistance (their first postwar economic plan counted on the amount promised by President Nixon), the condition was dropped in mid-1978 when Hanoi made additional gestures toward normal relations. At that time, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach and the United States government reached an agreement in principle on normalization, but the date was left vague. When Thach urged November 1978, a date that in retrospect is significant because he was due in Moscow to sign the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union, Washington was noncommittal. During this period, United States officials were preoccupied with the question of the Indochinese refugees, and they were in the process of normalizing relations with China. This was an action that could have been jeopardized had Washington concurrently sought a rapprochement with Vietnam, a nation whose relationship with Beijing was growing increasingly strained. Policy makers in Hanoi correctly reasoned that the United States had opted to strengthen its ties with China rather than with Vietnam, and they moved to formalize their ties with the Soviets in response. Their original hope, however, had been to gain both diplomatic recognition from the United States and a friendship treaty with Moscow, as a double guarantee against future Chinese interference.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In the United States, the issue of normalizing relations with Vietnam was complicated by Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in December 1978, the continuing plight of Vietnamese refugees, and the unresolved MIA issue. In 1987, under President Ronald Reagan, the United States continued to enforce the trade embargo imposed on Hanoi in 1975 and barred normal ties as long as Vietnamese troops occupied Cambodia. Any efforts to improve relations remained closely tied to United States willingness to honor its 1973 aid commitment to Vietnam and to Hanoi's failure to account for the whereabouts of more than 2,400 MIAs in Indochina. From the signing of the Paris agreements in 1973 until mid-1978, the Vietnamese had routinely stressed the linkage between the aid and MIA issues. Beginning in mid-1978, however, Hanoi dropped its insistence that the MIA and aid questions be resolved as a precondition for normalization and stopped linking the MIA question to other unresolved matters between the two countries. Vietnamese leaders contrasted their restraint on the MIA issue with its alleged political exploitation by the United States as a condition for normal relations. As additional signs of goodwill, Hanoi permitted the joint United States-Vietnamese excavation of a B-52 crash site in 1985 and returned the remains of a number of United States servicemen between 1985 and 1987. Vietnamese spokesmen also claimed during this period to have a two-year plan to resolve the MIA question but failed to reveal details.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Although Vietnam's Sixth National Party Congress in December 1986 officially paid little attention to restoring diplomatic relations with the United States, the report of the congress noted that Vietnam was continuing to hold talks with Washington on humanitarian issues and expressed a readiness to improve relations. Although ambivalent in tone, the message was more positive than the 1982 Fifth National Party Congress report, which had attributed the stalemated relationship to Washington's "hostile policy." The improved wording was attributable to the influence of newly appointed Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh, who was expected to attach high priority to expanding Vietnam's links with the West.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Within a few months of the Sixth National Party Congress, however, Hanoi began to send conflicting signals to Washington. In mid-1987 the Vietnamese government, having determined that cooperation had gained few concessions from the United States, reverted to its pre-1978 position linking the aid and MIA issues. The resumption of its hardline stand, however, was brief. A meeting between Vietnamese leaders and President Reagan's special envoy on MIAs, General John W. Vessey, in August 1987 yielded significant gains for both sides. In exchange for greater Vietnamese cooperation on resolving the MIA issue, the United States agreed officially to encourage charitable assistance for Vietnam. Although the agreement fell short of Hanoi's requests for economic aid or war reparations, it marked the first time that the United States had offered anything in return for Vietnamese assistance in accounting for the MIAs and was an important step toward an eventual reconciliation between the two countries.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The influence of Vietnam War veterans John McCain and John Kerry on Bill Clinton was instrumental in the Clinton administration's decision to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam. Both Kerry and McCain were decorated war veterans and congressmen who served on the Senate Select Committee on P.O.W./M.I.A. Affairs. In this role, they became intimately familiar with the issue of missing American soldiers, frequently traveling to Vietnam and coordinating with Vietnamese government officials. Following years of public anguish in the United States over the fate of missing servicemen as well as measurable progress by the Vietnamese government in meeting related American demands, Kerry and McCain began to advocate lifting the embargo. They believed the policy would foster bi-national reconciliation, public healing in the United States, and further American economic and security interests. According to then Senator Ted Kennedy, “John Kerry did it because the issue of the war burned in his soul, and he found a soulmate in John McCain.” On many occasions, McCain and Kerry met personally with Clinton to promote lifting the embargo. In one conversation with the president, McCain stated, “It doesn’t matter to me anymore, Mr. President, who was for the war and who was against the war. I’m tired of looking back in anger. What’s important is that we move forward now.” In arguing their case to Clinton, the Senators “offered geopolitical and economic reasons, but also emphasized the matter of national honor, since the Vietnamese had diligently done all that we had asked them to in the matter of M.I.A [soldiers].”


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The efforts of Kerry and McCain in Congress and in public created the political capital and consensus necessary for the Clinton administration to credibly lift the embargo. Although officials in the Clinton administration were ultimately in consensus to lift the embargo, the administration perceived they did not possess sufficient political credibility. Clinton had avoided military service in the Vietnam War as a young man, infamously describing the conflict in a letter in 1969 as “a war I opposed and despised with a depth of feeling I had reserved solely for racism in America before Vietnam.” Consequently, Kerry and McCain sought to use their widespread credibility on the matter to create an environment in which Clinton could lift the embargo. In 1993, Kerry and McCain accompanied Clinton to the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, despite substantial opposition from veterans’ groups. Moreover, the two men accompanied Clinton in 1993 “as his escorts” to “deliver the commencement address at Northeastern University.” Later, in 1994, Kerry and McCain co-sponsored a bipartisan Senate resolution urging the Clinton administration to lift the embargo. Despite significant opposition from Republican leadership and veterans’ groups, “McCain’s sponsorship persuaded twenty Republicans to vote for the measure, which passed by a vote of sixty-two to thirty-eight.” While developing the bill, Kerry was in frequent communication with officials within the Clinton administration. Following the vote, Kerry emphasized the promotion of national healing, stating, “it was time to put the war behind us.” Likewise, McCain described the resolution as “as a seminal event in U.S.-Vietnamese relations,” adding that “the vote will give the President the… political cover he needs to lift the embargo.”


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The U.S. embargo on Vietnam was eventually lifted in February 1994. Formal normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations took place in 1995. In 1997, the Vietnamese government agreed to pay the debts of the South Vietnamese government, then amounting to $140 million in order to be allowed to trade with the US. Following this, trade volumes boomed between the two countries. Also in 1997, President Clinton appointed former POW and U.S. Congressman Douglas "Pete" Peterson as the first U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: During the Vietnam War, as part of Operation Ranch Hand the U.S. Armed Forces deployed a herbicide and defoliant chemical known as Agent Orange. The U.S. military first started experimenting with herbicides in Vietnam beginning in 1961 as part of a herbicidal warfare program which lasted until 1971. The Vietnamese government estimates that 400,000 people were killed or maimed and 500,000 children born with birth defects as a result of the deployment of Agent Orange. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to the effects of Agent Orange. The United States government has dismissed these figures as unreliable and unrealistically high.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. The 2,4,5-T used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), an extremely toxic dioxin compound. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped 55 U.S. gallon (208 L) barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides".


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Vietnam's suppression of political dissent has been an issue of contention in relations with the U.S. and drew criticism from the Administration and Congress. In spring 2007, Vietnam's government launched a crackdown on political dissidents, and in November the same year arrested a group of pro-democracy activists, including two Americans. Despite continued suppression of freedom of expression, Vietnam did make significant progress on expanding religious freedom. In 2005, Vietnam passed comprehensive religious freedom legislation, outlawing forced renunciations and permitting the official recognition of new denominations. As a result, in November 2006, the U.S. Department of State lifted the designation of Vietnam as a “Country of Particular Concern,” based on a determination that the country was no longer a serious violator of religious freedoms, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. This decision was reaffirmed by the Department of State in November 2007. However, serious concerns continue due to Vietnam's suppression of freedom of speech.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Donald Trump, President of the United States, was criticized for failure to bring the human rights issues of Vietnam to the table during his visit to Vietnam in 2017 and before the visit of Vietnamese Premier Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to the United States.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: As of December 14, 2007, the U.S. government listed 1,763 Americans unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, including 1,353 in Vietnam. Since 1973, as part of investigating the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, 883 Americans have been accounted for, including 627 in Vietnam. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed that of the 196 individuals who were "last known alive" (LKA), the U.S. government has determined the fate of all but 31. The United States considers achieving the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing and unaccounted for in Indochina to be one of its highest priorities with Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Another sign of the expanding bilateral relationship is the signing of a Bilateral Air Transport Agreement in December 2003. Several U.S. carriers already have third-party code sharing agreements with Vietnam Airlines. Direct flights between Ho Chi Minh City and San Francisco began in December 2004. Vietnam and the United States also signed a bilateral Maritime Agreement in March 2007 that opened the maritime transport and services industry of Vietnam to U.S. firms. In 2011 the U.S. banks agreed to invest $1.5 billion in Vietnamese infrastructure.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Vietnam's defense policy is based on the "four nos" principle: no military alliances, no foreign troops stationed on Vietnamese soil, no partnering with a foreign power to combat another and no force or threatening to use force in international relations.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Cooperation in other areas, such as defense, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and law enforcement, is also expanding steadily. Vietnam hosted visits by five U.S. Navy vessels in 2007, including a port call to Da Nang by the amphibious assault ship carrying a multinational contingent of medical and engineering personnel. In June 2007, Vietnamese observers took part for the first time in the multinational naval exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), organized by the U.S. Navy. The Vietnamese Prime Minister has stated that the country is in the final stages of preparation to take part in international peacekeeping, as part of its contribution as a new member of the U.N. Security Council.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In response to the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011, Nguyen Phuong Nga, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry of Vietnam said, when asked about the death of bin Laden, "Terrorists must bear responsibility for their acts and should be severely punished. Vietnam will continue to join the international community in the fight against terrorism, based on the UN Charter and the basic principles of international law, to eliminate terrorism."


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The ongoing and increasingly tense South China Sea dispute with the People's Republic of China, which has of late become more assertive in its territorial claims, has also gradually strengthened relations between Vietnam and the U.S. and other Chinese rivals, including India and fellow ASEAN member and U.S. ally the Philippines. The United States favors an open South China Sea for its larger Indo-Pacific Strategy and because Chinese territorial claims in the region threaten the security and prosperity of its key regional allies. With its historically complex relationship with China that included past territorial disputes, Vietnam feels that Chinese claims and actions in the South China Sea threaten its sovereignty and territorial integrity. In this regard, American and Vietnamese security interests align as they oppose Chinese actions in the South China Sea. According to a top official, the U.S. Coast Guard has repeatedly helped protect Vietnamese fishing vessels from China.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In June 2013, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that he would welcome the U.S. playing a larger role in tempering regional tensions, as China and some of its Southeast Asian neighbors remain deadlocked over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea - "No regional country would oppose the strategic engagement of extra-regional powers if such engagement aims to enhance cooperation for peace, stability and development. We attach special importance to the roles played by a vigorously rising China and by the United States — a Pacific power."


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In October 2013, the United States and Vietnam signed a pact allowing for the transfer of nuclear fuel and technology from the U.S. to Vietnam, which is already working with Russia to complete its first nuclear plant by 2014 to meet its rising energy demands, with an American official noting that, "Vietnam is actively taking steps now toward development of a robust domestic infrastructure to support a nuclear energy program." In line with its more active engagement with Vietnam, the United States has provided funds and equipment for Vietnamese naval capabilities. In 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the US would provide Vietnam with $18 million to enhance the capacity of its coast guard.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Additionally, the United States and Vietnam also cooperate in the Clean Energy Sector. In 2014, the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam announced technical assistance for developing Wind Power Systems.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In early October 2014, the United States approved a relaxation of its longstanding arms embargo on Vietnam. In May 2016, President Obama announced the full lifting of the embargo during his visit to Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: On 2 October 2016, US Navy destroyer and submarine tender made the first port visit to Cam Ranh Bay since 1975. A US Navy aircraft carrier () visited Vietnam in March 2018. According to the Vietnam Foreign Ministry, the visit will "contribute to maintaining peace, stability, security, cooperation and development in the region".


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: In May 2017, the US delivered six 45-foot Defiant-class patrol boats to the Vietnamese Coast Guard. The cooperation in matters of their naval capabilities suggests that the shared security concerns over the South China Sea has strengthened the US-Vietnam military relationship.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: Reflecting the heightened tension over the South China Sea, the Vietnamese government updated the “three nos” policy in their December 2019 “National Defense White Paper.” It included a “fourth No” that denounced the use of force or threatened use of force to settle disputes. The White Paper also stated that it is willing to allow ships from other countries to dock at its ports. This suggests Vietnam shows greater worry over developments in the South China Sea and is willing to reach out to other regional powers.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: This relationship, however, is limited by historical memory and Vietnam's multivector foreign policy. While fears about regime change have lowered, the US's frequent criticism of Vietnam's human rights situation is understood in the context of the Vietnam War and creates worry in Hanoi about the US's true intentions. This may serve to limit the scope and scale of military cooperation. Similarly, with its multivector foreign policy, Vietnam avoids aligning too closely with any particular regional power, and in particular limits its engagement with the United States to avoid upsetting China. To that end, Russia, not the US, is the largest arms exporter to Vietnam.


title: United States–Vietnam relations

text: The U.S. Embassy in Vietnam is located in Hanoi. The U.S. Consulate General is located in Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnamese Consulate General to the United States is located in San Francisco, California. In 2009, the United States received permission to open a consulate in Da Nang; in 2010, Vietnam officially inaugurated a consulate general in Houston.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: The Hero is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed and edited by Brett Haley and written by Haley and Marc Basch. It stars Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Nick Offerman and Katharine Ross and follows an aging movie star who deals with his terminal illness.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2017 and was released on June 9, 2017 by The Orchard.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Lee Hayden is an aging Western actor in his 70s with a golden voice, whose his best performances are decades behind him. He mostly gets voice work for ads.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Peter, Lee's agent, calls to tell him a group wants to give him a lifetime achievement award for his acting work in Westerns, but no job offers. Directly afterwards his doctor confirms he has pancreatic cancer.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Lee spends his days reliving old glories and smoking marijuana with his former-co-star-turned-dealer, Jeremy, but the surprise cancer diagnosis brings his priorities into sharp focus. Besides trying to tell him, he also contacts his ex-wife Val and attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Lucy. Instead of telling them about the cancer he says he's going to do another film, his euphemism for the cancer.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Also inviting Lucy to the award ceremony on Sunday, she can't, but instead Lee arranges to take her to lunch on Tuesday. He runs into Charlotte, who he'd met in passing at Jeremy's. She asks for his number and he invites her to be his date at the awards ceremony.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: On the way there in the taxi, they both take a bit of ecstasy. It helps both of them get through the event smiling. They do official photos, meet and greet with guests and he even signs autographs. Then, after watching a clip, Lee goes on stage to accept the award. A video of it goes viral, as he regifts the award to an audience member, saying everyone there is deserving of it.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: The next morning, Lee wakes up in his bed with Charlotte next to him. Over coffee, he reiterates that she's too young for him as she's not much older than Lucy. Notwithstanding, they soon strike up an exciting, contentious relationship.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: They discover his speech went viral. Charlotte invites him to her stand-up comic routine that evening. In the meantime, Peter calls to say that Lee's now flooded with offers. He faxes him a script for an audition on Tuesday and Jeremy runs lines with him.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: At the audition, Lee breaks down as he seems to be an emotional response to the scene, perhaps because it is not dissimular to his own issues with his daughter. Perhaps because Charlotte's material was all about the negative aspects of dating a much older person, perhaps he'd surfed for info on his cancer and hadn't slept well.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Upset and angry, Lee lashes out at a fan, then he goes home. There he consumes copious amounts of alcohol and other substances. He slept through his lunch date and when he comes to he sees her messages, but she's unreachable.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: Charlotte arrives, apologizing for her set. Lee finally tells her he's dying and she makes him promise to tell his family and to undergo the procedure his oncologist proposes. He first tells Val who gets in touch with Lucy and he can make amends.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: On April 20, 2016, it was reported that Sam Elliott would star in "The Hero", directed and co-written by Brett Haley. Other cast members included Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Nick Offerman, and Elliott's wife Katharine Ross.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2017. Shortly after, The Orchard acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on June 9, 2017.


title: The Hero (2017 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""The Hero" rests on Sam Elliott's understated performance, which proves more than capable of carrying the film through the less inspired moments of its somewhat clichéd story." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 61 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: Raghavendra Tirtha () (1595 – 1671) was a Hindu scholar, theologian and saint. He was also known as Sudha Parimalacharya (). His diverse oeuvre include commentaries on the works of Madhva, Jayatirtha and Vyasatirtha, interpretation of the Principal Upanishads from the standpoint of Dvaita and a treatise on Purva Mimamsa. He served as the pontiff of matha at Kumbakonam from 1621 to 1671. Sri Raghavendra Swamy was also an accomplished player of the Veena and he composed several songs under the name of "Venu Gopala". His shrine at Mantralayam attracts lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of visitors every year.


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: Sri Raghavendra Swami was born as Venkatanatha in the town of Bhuvanagiri, Tamil Nadu into a Deshastha Madhva Brahmin family of Gautama Gotra of musicians and scholars after blessings from Lord Venkateshwara. His great-grandfather Krishna Bhatta was a tutor to the Vijayanagara king Krishnadeva Raya, his grandfather was Kanakachala Bhatta and his father Thimmanna Bhatta (also known as Thimmannacharya) was an accomplished scholar and musician. After the fall of the Vijayanagara empire, Thimmanacharya migrated to Kanchi with his wife Gopikamba. Venkatanatha had two siblings—Gururaja and Venkatamba. Venkatanatha's education was taken care of by his brother-in-law Lakshmi Narasimhacharya at Madurai after the early demise of his father, and he subsequently got married.


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: In 1624, Raghavendra Tirtha became peetadhipathi of Kumbhakona Matha, which is now known by the name of Raghavendra Matha. After a short stay at Kumbakonam, he went on a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram, Ramnad, Srirangam, and Mathura. Later, he moved westwards to Udupi and Subramanya, and then to Pandharpur, Kolhapur and Bijapur. At Kolhapur, he is said to have stayed for a long time and at Bijapur, he supposedly defeated many Advaitins and converted them to Dvaita fold. After that, he returned to Kumbakonam. By 1663 he left for Mysore where he got a grant from Dodda Devaraya Odeyar. Finally, he chose to settle down in Mantralayam


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: Raghavendra Swami took Samadhi in 1671 in Mantralayam, a village on the bank of river Tungabhadra in Adoni taluk in Andhra Pradesh.


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: Forty works have been attributed to Sri Raghavendra swamy. Sharma notes that his works are characterised by their compactness, simplicity and their ability to explain the abstruse metaphysical concepts of Dvaita in understandable terms. His "Tantradipika" is an interpretation of the Brahma Sutra from the standpoint of Dvaita incorporating elements from Jayatirtha's "Nyaya Sudha", Vyasatirtha's "Tatparya Chandrika" and the glosses by Vijayendra Tirtha. "Bhavadipa" is a commentary on Jayatirtha's "Tattva Prakasika" which, apart from elucidating the concepts of the source text, criticises the allegations against Madhva raised by Appaya Dikshita and grammarian Bhattoji Dikshita. Sri Raghavendra swamy's expertise in Purva Mimamsa and Vyakarana is evident from his works on Vyasatirtha's "Tatparya Chandrika", which runs up to 18,000 stanzas. He wrote a commentary on "Nyaya Sudha" titled "Nyaya Sudha Parimala". Apart from these works, he has authored commentaries on the Upanishads, first three chapters of Rig Veda (called "Mantramanjari") and Bhagvad Gita. As an independent treatise, he has authored a commentary on Jaimini Sutras called "Bhatta Sangraha" which seeks to interpret the Purva Mimamsa doctrines from a Dvaita perspective.


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: While Rayaru had his Brindavana Pravesha around 1:30 pm in the 17th century, it is recorded in the Gazette of then Madras Presidency that he gave darshan and spoke to Sir Thomas Munroe, a civil servant of British Government and discussed with him the restitution of the Inam Lands to the government which was being proposed then, meaning that Mantralaya would have become part of the restituted lands. After such a conversation, which Sir Thomas Munroe dutifully transcribed, the restitution was withdrawn.


title: Raghavendra Tirtha

text: Raghavendra Tirtha has been eulogised by Narayanacharya in his contemporaneous biography "Raghavendra Vijaya" and a hymn "Raghavendra Stotra" by Appannacharya. Outside the confines of Dvaita, he is regarded as a saint known for preaching the worship of Vishnu regardless of caste or creed. Hebbar notes "By virtue of his spiritual charisma, coupled with the innumerable miracles associated with him, the pontiff saint may very well be said to possess an independent and cosmopolitan cult of his own with his devotees hailing not only from all walks of life but from all castes, sects and even creeds as well". His humanitarianism is evident in the devotional poems composed in his honour by Vijaya Dasa, Gopala Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa. Raghavendra has also seen representation in the popular culture through Indian Cinema.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: A spectrum analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals. The input signal that most common spectrum analyzers measure is electrical; however, spectral compositions of other signals, such as acoustic pressure waves and optical light waves, can be considered through the use of an appropriate transducer. Spectrum analyzers for other types of signals also exist, such as optical spectrum analyzers which use direct optical techniques such as a monochromator to make measurements.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: By analyzing the spectra of electrical signals, dominant frequency, power, distortion, harmonics, bandwidth, and other spectral components of a signal can be observed that are not easily detectable in time domain waveforms. These parameters are useful in the characterization of electronic devices, such as wireless transmitters.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: The display of a spectrum analyzer has frequency on the horizontal axis and the amplitude displayed on the vertical axis. To the casual observer, a spectrum analyzer looks like an oscilloscope and, in fact, some lab instruments can function either as an oscilloscope or a spectrum analyzer.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Following the discovery of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) in 1965, the first FFT-based analyzers were introduced in 1967.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Today, there are three basic types of analyzer: the swept-tuned spectrum analyzer, the vector signal analyzer, and the real-time spectrum analyzer.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Spectrum analyzer types are distinguished by the methods used to obtain the spectrum of a signal. There are swept-tuned and fast Fourier transform (FFT) based spectrum analyzers:


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This form factor is useful for applications where the spectrum analyzer can be plugged into AC power, which generally means in a lab environment or production/manufacturing area. Bench top spectrum analyzers have historically offered better performance and specifications than the portable or handheld form factor. Bench top spectrum analyzers normally have multiple fans (with associated vents) to dissipate heat produced by the processor. Due to their architecture, bench top spectrum analyzers typically weigh more than . Some bench top spectrum analyzers offer optional battery packs, allowing them to be used away from AC power. This type of analyzer is often referred to as a "portable" spectrum analyzer.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This form factor is useful for any applications where the spectrum analyzer needs to be taken outside to make measurements or simply carried while in use. Attributes that contribute to a useful portable spectrum analyzer include:


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This form factor is useful for any application where the spectrum analyzer needs to be very light and small. Handheld analyzers usually offer a limited capability relative to larger systems. Attributes that contribute to a useful handheld spectrum analyzer include:


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This form factor does not include a display and these devices are designed to enable a new class of geographically-distributed spectrum monitoring and analysis applications. The key attribute is the ability to connect the analyzer to a network and monitor such devices across a network. While many spectrum analyzers have an Ethernet port for control, they typically lack efficient data transfer mechanisms and are too bulky or expensive to be deployed in such a distributed manner. Key applications for such devices include RF intrusion detection systems for secure facilities where wireless signaling is prohibited. As well cellular operators are using such analyzers to remotely monitor interference in licensed spectral bands. The distributed nature of such devices enable geo-location of transmitters, spectrum monitoring for dynamic spectrum access and many other such applications.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: As discussed above in types, a swept-tuned spectrum analyzer down-converts a portion of the input signal spectrum to the center frequency of a band-pass filter by sweeping the voltage-controlled oscillator through a range of frequencies, enabling the consideration of the full frequency range of the instrument.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: The bandwidth of the band-pass filter dictates the resolution bandwidth, which is related to the minimum bandwidth detectable by the instrument. As demonstrated by the animation to the right, the smaller the bandwidth, the more spectral resolution. However, there is a trade-off between how quickly the display can update the full frequency span under consideration and the frequency resolution, which is relevant for distinguishing frequency components that are close together. For a swept-tuned architecture, this relation for sweep time is useful:


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Where ST is sweep time in seconds, k is proportionality constant, Span is the frequency range under consideration in hertz, and RBW is the resolution bandwidth in Hertz.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Sweeping too fast, however, causes a drop in displayed amplitude and a shift in the displayed frequency.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Also, the animation contains both up- and down-converted spectra, which is due to a frequency mixer producing both sum and difference frequencies. The local oscillator feedthrough is due to the imperfect isolation from the IF signal path in the mixer.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: For very weak signals, a pre-amplifier is used, although harmonic and intermodulation distortion may lead to the creation of new frequency components that were not present in the original signal.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: With an FFT based spectrum analyzer, the frequency resolution is formula_2, the inverse of the time "T" over which the waveform is measured and Fourier transformed.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: With Fourier transform analysis in a digital spectrum analyzer, it is necessary to sample the input signal with a sampling frequency formula_3 that is at least twice the bandwidth of the signal, due to the Nyquist limit. A Fourier transform will then produce a spectrum containing all frequencies from zero to formula_4. This can place considerable demands on the required analog-to-digital converter and processing power for the Fourier transform, making FFT based spectrum analyzers limited in frequency range.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Since FFT based analyzers are only capable of considering narrow bands, one technique is to combine swept and FFT analysis for consideration of wide and narrow spans. This technique allows for faster sweep time.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This method is made possible by first down converting the signal, then digitizing the intermediate frequency and using superheterodyne or FFT techniques to acquire the spectrum.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: One benefit of digitizing the intermediate frequency is the ability to use digital filters, which have a range of advantages over analog filters such as near perfect shape factors and improved filter settling time. Also, for consideration of narrow spans, the FFT can be used to increase sweep time without distorting the displayed spectrum.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: A realtime spectrum analyser does not have any blind time—up to some maximum span, often called the "realtime bandwidth". The analyser is able to sample the incoming RF spectrum in the time domain and convert the information to the frequency domain using the FFT process. FFT's are processed in parallel, gapless and overlapped so there are no gaps in the calculated RF spectrum and no information is missed.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: In a sense, any spectrum analyzer that has vector signal analyzer capability is a realtime analyzer. It samples data fast enough to satisfy Nyquist Sampling theorem and stores the data in memory for later processing. This kind of analyser is only realtime for the amount of data / capture time it can store in memory and still produces gaps in the spectrum and results during processing time.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Minimizing distortion of information is important in all spectrum analyzers. The FFT process applies windowing techniques to improve the output spectrum due to producing less side lobes. The effect of windowing may also reduce the level of a signal where it is captured on the boundary between one FFT and the next. For this reason FFT's in a Realtime spectrum analyzer are overlapped. Overlapping rate is approximately 80%. An analyzer that utilises a 1024-point FFT process will re-use approximately 819 samples from the previous FFT process.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: This is related to the sampling rate of the analyser and the FFT rate. It is also important for the realtime spectrum analyzer to give good level accuracy.


title: Spectrum analyzer

text: Example: for an analyser with of realtime bandwidth (the maximum RF span that can be processed in realtime) approximately (complex) are needed. If the spectrum analyzer produces an FFT calculation is produced every For a FFT a full spectrum is produced approximately every This also gives us our overlap rate of 80% (20 μs − 4 μs) / 20 μs = 80%.