Combat

Combat or fighting is a purposeful violent conflict meant to weaken, establish dominance over, or kill the opposition, or to drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed.

The term combat (French for fight) typically refers to armed conflict between opposing military forces in warfare, whereas the more general term "fighting" can refer to any physical or verbal conflict between individuals or nations. Combat violence can be unilateral, whereas fighting implies at least a defensive reaction. A large-scale fight is known as a battle. A verbal fight is commonly known as an argument.

Background

Combat may take place under a specific set of rules or be unregulated. Examples of rules include the Geneva Conventions (covering the treatment of people in war), medieval chivalry, the Marquess of Queensberry rules (covering boxing) and several forms of combat sports.

Combat in warfare involves two or more opposing military organizations, usually fighting for nations at war (although guerrilla warfare and suppression of insurgencies can fall outside this definition). Warfare falls under the laws of war, which govern its purposes and conduct, and protect the rights of combatants and non-combatants.

Action (mathematics)

Action may refer to:

Drassi

Drassi (Greek: Δράση; English: Action) is a liberal minor political party in Greece. The party was founded in 2009 by Stefanos Manos and is led by former New Democracy member Theodoros Skylakakis. The party has no representation in the Hellenic Parliament or European Parliament. Drassi is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party.

History

Stefanos Manos left New Democracy (ND) in 1999 to found The Liberals, before later running on ND and Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) electoral lists in 2000 and 2004 respectively. Unlike The Liberals, Drassi was not founded as an expressly liberal party, but claims to espouse "common sense" as an ideological basis.

In its first contested election, the 2009 European elections, Drassi finished ninth with 0.8% of the vote. It subsequently did not participate in the general election in October 2009.

In the May 2012 legislative election, Drassi ran in electoral alliance with the Liberal Alliance. It won 1.8% of the vote finishing twelfth overall, directly behind the Democratic Alliance and Recreate Greece, which both had similar liberal ideologies to Drassi. Ahead of new elections in June 2012 legislative election, Drassi and the Liberal Alliance formed an electoral pact with Recreate Greece, while the Democratic Alliance, which they had also approached, refused to join them and ran on the New Democracy list instead.

Asp

Asp may refer to:

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Aspö

Aspö is a small village on the Aspö Island in Väståboland, Finland. Until 2009 it belonged to the municipality of Korpo. Its Finnish-language name is Haapasaari, although this name is seldom used. The village is known for its white limestone church that has a red brick roof. The current church was built in 1955–1956; however, a church has existed in the place since the Middle Ages. The old church was destroyed in a storm in 1949.

History

The commercially seafaring Vikings landed on Aspö during the Viking period, 800 - 1050 AD. In the 13th century it also served as a harbour for traders. The trade route was laid between Tallinn, Estonia and Denmark. In the beginning of the 20th century only about 30 people lived on Aspö. Now there are only about 10 people.

During World War I until 1917, Aspö served as Russian naval military watchpost. In 1944 it served as the German navy base as the Germans were not allowed to anchor on Åland proper.

In the 1910s the Russians had a patrol station on the island. In the 1940s it was used as a harbour for submarines. On the contrary to the year of 1941, on 1944 the Finns allowed instead of Aland proper, the German navy to use only Aspö and Nötö as the naval base Rotbuche as there was a suspicion of the Tanne West operation which would have led to the German occupation of Aland Islands. The question became actual from 20 June to 27 June, when the president of the republic of Finland, mr. Risto Ryti and the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop negotiated the terms continuing the war after the German arms export embargo in since April, 1944 due to the negotiations of peace with the Soviet union. A heavy naval detachment was sent via Utö towards Aspö.

Asp (reptile)

"Asp" is the modern Anglicisation of the word "aspis," which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region. It is believed that the aspis referred to in Egyptian mythology is the modern Egyptian cobra.

Historic representation

Throughout dynastic and Roman Egypt, the asp was a symbol of royalty. Moreover, in both Egypt and Greece, its potent venom made it useful as a means of execution for criminals who were thought deserving of a more dignified death than that of typical executions. In some stories of Perseus, after killing Medusa, the hero used winged boots to transport her head to Mount Olympus. As he was flying over Egypt some of her blood fell to the ground, which transformed into asps and amphisbaenae.

According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspis - Egyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. The asp is perhaps most famous for its alleged role in Cleopatra's suicide when Marc Anthony (husband) killed himself by falling on his sword due to false report of Cleopatra killing herself. (some believe it to have been a horned viper), though in 2010, German historian Christoph Schaefer and toxicologist Dietrich Mebs, after extensive study into the event, came to the conclusion that rather than enticing a venomous animal to bite her, Cleopatra actually used a mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium to end her life.