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Stella Antonoyannakie

Stella Antonoyannakie

An obsessive and nerdy activist (animal rights, marine conservation) with a dance background, aiming to deepen - and potentially invest in - her knowledge in fields that captivate her attention

Location Reykjavik, Iceland

Achievements

Activity

  • The first horsepox article might not be accessible to readers who lack access through a university or paid subscription.

  • @AlisonCampbell & @SimonRothwell , you are both thinking within the confines of your own cultures, which is natural, but in Norway, at the aftermath of Breivik's terrorist attack, even the families of the victims told the media that they didn't want revenge, they wanted justice, and they wouldn't have asked for the death penalty or a life sentence if it was an...

  • Norway has a pretty diverse population (2 out of 10 people in the country are not Norwegian, and many Norwegians nowadays are of Eastern European, Somali or Middle Eastern descent), and it has a capitalist system (albeit with a strong social welfare state).

    Breivik's case is not "unique", but rather a typical terrorist attack of a typical white supremacist.

  • I am a criminology student with a keen interest in forensic science, but I have also worked and continue to work as a carer in environments with varying levels of biosecurity standards, such as covid quarantine and isolation facilities, nursing homes and hospitals. It is therefore crucial that I level up my knowledge on biosecurity. I had meant to start this...

  • Thank you for sharing the experiences and perspectives of former prisoners who are now academics and criminology students. I hope it does something to humanize the perception of prisoners - I have read such dehumanizing and ignorant comments by fellow learners so far in the previous steps, I have simply given up on contributing to the conversation in this...

  • Thank you for sharing the experiences and perspectives of former prisoners who are now academics and criminology students. I hope it does something to humanize the perception of prisoners - I have read such dehumanizing and ignorant comments by fellow learners so far in the previous steps, I have simply given up on contributing to the conversation in this...

  • Iceland, where I currently live, does not really have a prison industrial complex, and thus no prison crisis to speak of - the 5 prisons that exist in the country are mostly low security (2 of them are open, meaning that the prisoners are not even locked in), and have a capacity of 10 to 56 prisoners each. Essentially, they are more like communal homes with...

  • Iceland, where I currently live, does not really have a prison industrial complex, and thus no prison crisis to speak of - the 5 prisons that exist in the country are mostly low security (2 of them are open, meaning that the prisoners are not even locked in), and have a capacity of 10 to 56 prisoners each. Essentially, they are more like communal homes with...

  • Legalization of drugs, decriminalization of sex work, and alternative sentences for minor offences would go a long way in reducing prison populations and ensuring that the prisons in use have higher chances of operating well, providing quality rehabilitation and respecting inmates' rights. Longterm preventive measures such as inclusive sex education (that...

  • Legalization of drugs, decriminalization of sex work, and alternative sentences for minor offences would go a long way in reducing prison populations and ensuring that the prisons in use have higher chances of operating well, providing quality rehabilitation and respecting inmates' rights. Longterm preventive measures such as inclusive sex education (that...

  • 3. To the extent that the trade and use of drugs is criminalized, there is an illegal market supplying drugs, to which many people with a lack of other financial or professional opportunities might resort, leading to their entering the criminal justice system. Addictions to substances can also lead to offending to secure the financial means for obtaining the...

  • 3. To the extent that the trade and use of drugs is criminalized, there is an illegal market supplying drugs, to which many people with a lack of other financial or professional opportunities might resort, leading to their entering the criminal justice system. Addictions to substances can also lead to offending to secure the financial means for obtaining the...

  • 2.High quality rehabilitation services that comply with NHS standards can be effective in aiding the prisoners to desist from drugs. Eliminating the circumstances that might cause or contribute to drug use is also necessary, such as overcrowding and understaffing that may lead to prisoners spending more time locked in their cells, as well as conflicts emerging...

  • 2.High quality rehabilitation services that comply with NHS standards can be effective in aiding the prisoners to desist from drugs. Eliminating the circumstances that might cause or contribute to drug use is also necessary, such as overcrowding and understaffing that may lead to prisoners spending more time locked in their cells, as well as conflicts emerging...

  • 1. Airport-security standard practices of searching and scanning visitors, well-trained surveillance teams (including the transparent use of CCTV), the use of one-piece pocketless suits by prisoners throughout the visits, nets under the tables to prevent objects from being dropped, and drug sniffer dogs. I personally do not think that the use of closed-room /...

  • 1. Airport-security standard practices of searching and scanning visitors, well-trained surveillance teams (including the transparent use of CCTV), the use of one-piece pocketless suits by prisoners throughout the visits, nets under the tables to prevent objects from being dropped, and drug sniffer dogs. I personally do not think that the use of closed-room /...

  • It depends. Clandestine drone strikes by JSOC for example are absolutely NOT subjected to any sort of judicial or congressional oversight. And suffice it to say, that even a high number of clandestine strikes that the public assumes are carried out by the CIA (which IS subjected to oversight), are actually the work of JSOC.

  • Since I see Red Cross material included in the reading sources, I thought I should drop here the Red Cross' recent published official position on autonomous weapon systems: file:///C:/Users/notandi/Downloads/4550.01_002-ebook.pdf

  • @JACochrane you say the public "would prefer no involvement except to protect allies and resources". One would argue that most involvement is to protect resources anyway. Some might even say to steal resources - but it depends on who we think owns what.

  • As I am speeding up to catch up with the course material, I will be brief for once:
    1 & 4: RCW is already largely replacing conventionals - many people in the West, particularly in the US, are completely unaware of all the countries their country is in war with, because no war is officially declared and most attacks are unaccounted for.
    2.Accountability is...

  • The US and its allies often do not comply with international treaties either. The security of everyone involved is already being jeopardized.

  • #5a (continuing from #4a) We can't know how these Marines would have reacted to Trombley or behaved themselves if there wasn't a reporter embedded with them, and Marines are by no means saints (and there have been numerous war crimes committed by Marines, but I don't want to go into that because it's a rather different military culture -albeit no less "macho"-...

  • #4a (continuing from 3a)
    Since I mentioned repeatedly the 2003 murder of Manadel Jamadi in my earlier comments let me add that one of the SEALs who detained Jamadi, not only has hobbies that include the killing and torturing of animals today years after his retirement, but graphic photos of shot newborn animals and their mothers as well as of himself...

  • #3a (continuing from #2a) In one of retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink's podcasts (don't have the link right now, I'm on the road, but I believe it aired on youtube on the 21st of June last year, or if I'm wrong the same date 2019, I think the title was "dangerous but disciplined"), he has a conversation with Canadian psychologist and conspiracy theorist Jordan...

  • #2a (continuing) ...similar pressure. I believe that they thus have a natural advantage at BUD/s compared to non-psychopathic individuals. They do not panic as easily if somebody removes their oxygen supply and repeatedly prevents them from surfacing to breathe. In fact, because of their low autonomic arousal, because of their underfunctioning amygdala and all...

  • Comment a1) @PhilipSouthern sorry for getting back to this so late, the last 12 days at work had been totally hectic for me. I don't think that militarized masculinity manifests significantly differently in spec ops units (compared to other units) like you and @SooEngHao(StudentMentor) suggested, but my personal opinion is that the selection process in certain...

  • @PhilipSouthern I'll find time to give you a more elaborate reply, but in short, no, I don't think that "macho" culture is much different in the SEALs and other SF than in other military forces, and women serving in the military doesn't make it any less macho. There is a reason I mentioned Clint Emerson's biography, and it is not because I like him (I don't)....

  • @PhilipSouthern reply #5:
    I also recommend reading Jeremy Scahill's "Dirty wars" https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568589549/?coliid=I1NV4XPOTJBSNZ&colid=22EZ0FOWMM6TU&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
    I would also make the rather unorthodox suggestion of reading Clint Emerson's "the right kind of crazy"...

  • @PhilipSouthern reply #4:
    Mind you that Navy SEALs always walk away from their court martials (in those tip of the iceberg cases that are actually reported and the even more rare ones that make it to military "justice") with a slap on the wrist at best, just like Andrew Ledford did - or Gallagher, despite the incredible number of SEALs who broke the silence...

  • @PhilipSouthern I got dozens of links particularly on Navy SEALs and DEVGRU and just as many saved screenshots. If I am to stick to more official / open sources and less graphic material, a couple of nice overview articles would be these:
    1. https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/
    2....

  • ...and, @JohnCope , regarding private military contractors, I suggest you join any Iraqi forum or online group, if there are no Iraqis in your life, and just mention the name Blackwater and ask what they think. Cue: most ordinary people in Iraq can't really tell the difference between former Blackwater (currently Academi) and other private military companies....

  • If you people think that spec ops rarely abuse their power and that on the rare event that they do their commanders have to answer to the law... I'm sorry but you have no idea what's going on, and I don't know where to start... SEAL teams behave so notoriously sociopathically, even inside their own ranks it is admitted to be a problem. Among people who are...

  • @JohnCope and @DavidC I totally understand the concern about protecting the lives of spec ops service members. What about protecting the lives of civilians and POWs however? Unfortunately, neither high rank commanders nor elected officials are typically held accountable when spec ops groups like DEVGRU commit crimes, and because of how good they are at...

  • Well, in the US, the president essentially has unlimited power to take military action thanks to AUMF, and does not need the Congress' consent. The Congress wouldn't even be told why the president chose to extrajudicially assassinate US citizens without due process. Now, I'm not American -or British, for that matter - but when I do vote, I don't vote for the...

  • @SooEngHao(StudentMentor) yet we know for a fact that recent wars that were waged supposedly against terrorism and for politics / identity, were in fact about resources. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a very obvious example. Saddam had no active program of weapons of mass destruction, posed no threat to the US and his regime, tyranic as it might have been, had...

  • @EduardoMórlan I agree with you that technically this is not warfare - it is why I am tempted to place the "war on terror" in quotation marks. It does not fulfill the criteria to be considered a war between nations - a direct clash of organized armies. But then, George W Bush used exactly this argument, of the war on terror as a "new paradigm", to avoid...

  • @SooEngHao(StudentMentor) sorry, I wrote my next comment before seeing your reply, and it took me over an hour because I'm in the middle of a hectic day and I'm constantly interrupted when I start reading or commenting! There will likely be more instances where I fail to sync like that and I apologize in advance!

  • Similarly, I think that legal immunity and avoidance of accountability is largely the reason behind the increase in the use of private military contractors. Not being members of national armed forces, they do not have to adhere to international law regarding how warfare must be conducted - and they cannot be tried as war criminals. In some limited cases,...

  • @SooEngHao(StudentMentor) it is often argued that the efficiency and smaller cost (on service members' lives as well) is the primary reason behind remote warfare. I certainly think that this is part of the truth. If it was the entire truth however, there would not be so much secrecy behind these operations, particularly with regard to spec ops, and much more...

  • For me, the standard ways of conducting academic research to write an essay for example, are sometimes hard to reconcile with some of my preferred methods of investigating as an activist (which has been my more common approach to information searching regarding certain types of warfare). Having authoritative, public and reliable sources may be essential to...

  • I am an animal rights & environmental activist and had also been active in the anti-war movement in the beginning of the post-9/11 wars - I am also a criminology student interested in wildlife crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity: social justice is thus my focal point. Incapable of pure academic objectivity, my motive for learning is highly...

  • Thank you for the welcoming! I am very excited to see such a team of professors with diverse research backgrounds, ranging from counter-terrorism to international trade! I had been wondering whether there would be a veteran on the team to offer perhaps more of an insider military perspective and I am very pleased that this is the case! Looking forward to the...

  • Especially given the negative effects that overcrowding seems to have even on prisoners' education and work (and thus minimizes whatever gain they might have after being released), but also observing the terrible effects of incarceration itself on women prisoners according to the Corston report, I think it goes without saying that alternatives to imprisonment...

  • Especially given the negative effects that overcrowding seems to have even on prisoners' education and work (and thus minimizes whatever gain they might have after being released), but also observing the terrible effects of incarceration itself on women prisoners according to the Corston report, I think it goes without saying that alternatives to imprisonment...

  • I could not find the Corston report on the Criminal Justice Alliance website (it is no longer available there), but for those interested, I found it here: https://www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/basw_31011-5_0.pdf

  • I could not find the Corston report on the Criminal Justice Alliance website (it is no longer available there), but for those interested, I found it here: https://www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/basw_31011-5_0.pdf

  • It seems to me that people who refer to prisons as "holiday camps" must have had some really bad holidays in their lives. The lack of privacy (not to mention freedom), the volatile and overcrowded conditions and the power dynamics in prison are not conducive to any holiday experience. Most importantly, if we consider that the majority of the people...

  • It seems to me that people who refer to prisons as "holiday camps" must have had some really bad holidays in their lives. The lack of privacy (not to mention freedom), the volatile and overcrowded conditions and the power dynamics in prison are not conducive to any holiday experience. Most importantly, if we consider that the majority of the people...

  • @SilviaTolusso-Tutor ciao Silvia, sei molto curiosa! :P Il miccione si chiama Baltasar. Il mio padre, che si chiama Vangelis, abita a Creta. Mi no piace abitare in Grecia.

  • @AnouskavandenBerg I gatti anche sono persone!

  • La mia famiglia ha 3 persone: io, mio gatto e mio padre. Io ho 38 anni, sono attivista, sottotitolattore e studente di criminologia, e habito á Reykjavik con mio gatto che ha 9 anni e è casalingo! :P Mio padre è 63 anni, habita in Grecia e tosta e consegnia cafe.

  • ...where is David Heighington in this step / debate?
    I am taking this course TWICE (I joined it just before the latest run of the course started on January 25, 2021, and then I also joined the latest run after January 25, so I am enrolled in TWO different versions of the course with different fellow learners and different comments), and the only reason I am...

  • Would you say then that a remake of the current economic system, reducing the unequal distribution of wealth, and fighting systems of oppression that create financially underprivileged groups (with limited access to educational, occupational or financial opportunities) could be part of the long-term solution for financially motivated crimes?

  • Not strictly related to the subject, but I cannot help but comment that humans ARE animals. Homo sapiens is a mammal, this is what we are, and it is not an insult (not to us at least - it might be an insult to other mammals). It is alarming that we think we have permission to treat non-human animals as badly as we do. Of course, not all animals have the exact...

  • I don't disagree with you generally, but I am curious as to why you think that CBT (if you mean cognitive behavioral therapy) digs deep and reaches the roots of an issue? I do not think it does. I think most of its processing takes place in the frontal cortex and is way too intellectual to deal with deep imprints. You can be on CBT for years and keep your...

  • serious and imagined or victimless, I think that we need to stop regarding it as an institutionalized human landfill. Perhaps start seeing it as a specialized clinic of some sort. We would not send the hard of hearing to a clinic for blind people, would we?

  • it (necessarily) help rehabilitate them. I am not trying to argue against all incarceration, but definitely against incarceration as we currently know it. Why is it helpful for someone's substance abuse? Why is helpful for somebody's lack of education and occupational or financial opportunities? Why is it even helpful for someone who was labeled a sex offender...

  • becoming socially marginalized by incarceration, and learning violent and anti-social coping strategies that they might have never had before? How does that protect them, and does it protect the public when they are released?

    Which brings us to the issue of over-populated prisons and the need to stop incarcerating people for minor offences. Why are we...

  • I am afraid my answer will not be nicely structured as I have very strong feelings around certain of the issues raised in the text (and the additional material), and I am tempted to initially disregard the questions themselves and start my response by commenting on the concept of "protecting the public": It goes without saying that the public should be...

  • serious and imagined or victimless, I think that we need to stop regarding it as an institutionalized human landfill. Perhaps start seeing it as a specialized clinic of some sort. We would not send the hard of hearing to a clinic for blind people, would we?

  • it (necessarily) help rehabilitate them. I am not trying to argue against all incarceration, but definitely against incarceration as we currently know it. Why is it helpful for someone's substance abuse? Why is helpful for somebody's lack of education and occupational or financial opportunities? Why is it even helpful for someone who was labeled a sex offender...

  • becoming socially marginalized by incarceration, and learning violent and anti-social coping strategies that they might have never had before? How does that protect them, and does it protect the public when they are released?

    Which brings us to the issue of over-populated prisons and the need to stop incarcerating people for minor offences. Why are we...

  • I am afraid my answer will not be nicely structured as I have very strong feelings around certain of the issues raised in the text (and the additional material), and I am tempted to initially disregard the questions themselves and start my response by commenting on the concept of "protecting the public": It goes without saying that the public should be...

  • Would you say that drastically reducing prison populations would be helpful then? So that smaller offences would be dealt with outside of custody, and daily food allowance for the people who do end up in prison, as well as the budget for their other needs, could be higher? It seems that this could take some pressure off the backs of correction officers as...

  • If loss of freedom is the intended punishment and no further punishment is intended - let alone if rehabilitation is a goal - then it goes without saying that cells should be comfortable, even homely, that solitary confinement is a form of torture that should not be used, and that people kept in prisons should be given the best chances at a decent life both...

  • If loss of freedom is the intended punishment and no further punishment is intended - let alone if rehabilitation is a goal - then it goes without saying that cells should be comfortable, even homely, that solitary confinement is a form of torture that should not be used, and that people kept in prisons should be given the best chances at a decent life both...

  • @SilviaTolusso-Tutor grazie per la correzione! :)
    "Ventitré"!

  • Stella Antonoyannakie made a comment

    Marta è nipote di Anna, Sara è cugina di Marta, e Franco è zio di Marta.

  • Non ho una grande famiglia. Ho uno gatto e il mio padre.

  • Tutte le strade di Venezia, mi manca Venezia.

  • Sabrina abita a Sienna, in piazza del Campo 2. Il suo telefono è 349900764.

  • L' impiegato non digitá veramente che Mike dice... :/ Osservate! Lui è fraudolento!

  • @SilviaTolusso-Tutor ciao Silvia! Non mi piace tanto l'Islanda, vivevo in Svezia 9 anni e io amo la Svezia! Il micione dorme tutto il giorno ma anche gioca e mangia!

  • Nove (9), ventitre (23), cinquantuno (51), settantasei (76).

  • Ciao Yumiko! Come si chiama il tuo gatto? Il mio gatto si chiama Baltasar!

  • Ciao, mi chiamo Stella, sono greca e abito a Reykjavik, Islanda, con il mio gatto. Sono attivista, lavoro come sottotitolatore e anche studio criminologia.

  • Generally, if we are talking about real (I mean, not victimless) offences, I would say that rehabilitation and restorative justice (whenever possible) SHOULD be the main aims of sentencing - although they are often not, or are often not achieved. Incapacitation too, in the case of dangerous or repeat offenders. These can actually have a positive effect - by...

  • @SaishaFrench thank you! I am very excited myself, even though I often doubt whether criminal justice is a right field for me: I'm an immigrant, an animal rights activist and a former sex worker. The criminal justice system has a sordid history of unjustly targetting my people. Which is why I need to hope that representation can make a difference. ✊

  • It is interesting how for so many of us rehabilitation is the answer. Yet in practice, it is often not the case. My people are often not in need of rehabilitation, or even punishment - I have friends who are fellow animal rights activists and ended up in prison for merely speaking (their speech cost corporations millions, therefore they were terrorists),...

  • therapy do not necessarily reach the deeply imprinted roots of mental illness and suffering - modifying someone's behavior does not deal with the sources of their pain, does not take away deeply imprinted trauma - therefore we could perhaps question the therapeutical approaches used to rehabilitate offenders. By and large however, yes, I do think that...

  • 3.Yes, I believe so, in most cases. It is worth noting however that if pressing and dramatic circumstances that led to offending in the first place (poverty being perhaps the most significant) are not changed, preventing someone from reoffending is not very realistic. Someone who was already marginalized and financially struggling prior to being incarcerated...

  • Again, I have already commented on this step on an apparently previous run of this course on January 21, but I'll repeat:
    1.Absolutely. Not only can other punishments be more beneficial, but also nobody really gains from growing prison populations. I think that they are costly and breeding grounds for steeper social divisions and potentially further criminal...

  • Hi Saisha, I'm also a bit late to join the course, as I was struggling to complete another course the last couple of weeks! I was just accepted at Portsmouth University for an undergraduate distance degree in criminology, so I'm looking forward to reading your reflections and views throughout the course!

  • I am a Reykjavik-based animal rights & environmental activist from Greece, recently accepted at Portsmouth Uni for a degree in criminology (I would have applied at Leeds if they offered an online Bsc in this field - and I wish that this MOOC could provide accreditation). I spent years protesting against post-9/11 wars. I am also a former sex worker.

    Hence I...

  • This is very weird: I commented on this step on the 21st of January, yet my comment, and my comments on all other steps of this course for this matter, have disappeared. I can still find them if I go to the "my activity" section of my profile however. Is this a later run-off of the same course? Do the different run-off coexist in parallel realities? What is...

  • (ah, I see you're already taking it! :) )

  • ...but take the "Environmental challenges: rights and values in ecosystem services" course first!!!

  • @JamesDavies you have to read Sian Sullivan!!!

  • No worries, it got reviewed! :) I'm not sure my firefly humor was understood though!

  • @JamesDavies I'm sure dolphins agree with us.

  • I did not understand how the scanning electron microscope detects gunshot residue. I understand that it produces electrons that interact with the scanned sample, and the detector spots these electrons. So, how is the presence of lead, barium and / or antimony determined? Does anyone have more knowledge on this and can elaborate?

  • Would you say that significantly reducing the number of offenders that end up in prison (or reducing the types of offences one can serve time for) could make prisons less understaffed and more likely to operate on the principle of rehabilitation that so many of us seem to view as a priority but apparently is not in line with the current reality?

  • I largely agree with you, but given that humans ARE animals and that non-human animal species are thousands and have very varied behaviors, comparing human criminals to non-human animals is an insult to the animals. Many animals are so noble that they do not exhibit violent behavior even when their life is at risk - including some species that are more...

  • a job to keep them from reoffending, regardless of how much counselling they receive. Counselling is a necessity, but it does not erase poverty, social exclusion and discrimination, reduced access to education. If anything, an inmate has at least their basic needs for housing and food met in prison, and may well develop a sense of community with other inmates;...

  • 1.Absolutely. Not only can other punishments be more beneficial, but also nobody really gains from growing prison populations. I think that they are costly and breeding grounds for steeper social divisions and potentially further criminal activity.
    2.The necessity to maintain a healthy mother-child bond, if anything for the best interests of the child, should...

  • I am a Reykjavik-based animal rights & environmental activist from Greece, interested in pursuing a degree in criminology (I would have applied at Leeds if they offered an online Bsc in this field - and I wish that this MOOC could provide accreditation). I spent years protesting against post-9/11 wars. I am also a former sex worker.

    Hence I am very...

  • One reason why IUU fishing, often by big foreign ships, takes place off the coast of poor countries, such as Tanzania and Peru, is that these countries lack the resources to patrol their waters and arrest illegal fishermen - the coast guard for example often does not have the vessels required. Particularly Tanzania saw a substantial reduction of IUU fishing...

  • ENGLISH COMPANIES ARE ALLOWED TO DISCHARGE RAW SEWAGE??!!
    Wow. I am not easily shocked, but this was unexpected.