As you try to grasp what is happening in Ukraine, you may well be asking yourself: what does Ukraine mean anyway? And, needless to say, views differ. There is a root word kraj in Slav languages which has all sorts of nuanced meanings in different Slavonic languages, linked to the […]
Another look at Ayn Rand, this time dwelling (reasonably) on her Russian roots and their literary impact on her books. That said, I think Anthony Daniels misinterprets a number of the examples he quotes from her novels to make his point, namely that Rand was clever and perceptive but above […]
Adam Jasser (Polish, Reuters journalist-turned-pundit, good egg) argues that the grim problems besetting Greece and its public finances could lead to the Eurozone getting even stronger: The argument goes that a default would require Greece to leave the euro zone and increase pressure on other peripherals such as Spain or Portugal. […]
Back in Moscow in 1994 or thereabouts I asked a top Russian foreign policy pundit what would happen to Ukraine, then languishing in a deacying post-communist stupor. "We’ll just buy it," came the sardonic reply. But what about less obvious places, such as Nauru, which has just recognised Abkhazia and […]
A reader says nice things about my long posting on the Copenhagen Negotiating Disaster (for the EU at least) but also asks a terrific question: A remarkable piece of analysis, Charles, with fascinating insights for the outsider. I detect a theme emerging in your posts – a sort of neo-realpolitik […]
Always good to hear from fellow bloggers who enjoy the product here. Such as Geoff Jones, who is to be found at https://geoffjones.com/ Geoff left school on the eve of his fifteenth birthday and has ended up a successful businessman and electronics innovator. See for example his very practical scientific […]
Remember my rather dismissive account of the UK’s attempt to teach the Russians how to fish, rather than inundate them with free fish? And the ensuing Big Mac Attack? I have just heard from a former member of the UK Agriculture Ministry MAFF (by no means related to naff) who […]
Another Browser link, this time to a fascinating interview with Stephen Lucas, a heavyweight expert on Soviet Law. This is well worth reading since it casts some light on an area largely neglected in Western analysis of Communism, namely the way the Soviet regime tried to give legal effect to […]
The popular rising in Iran against its revolting regime is gaining momentum. But will that be enough? A good WSJ piece on the Big Picture: Much has been written about the fact that Iran’s democratic movement today combines the three characteristics of a velvet revolution—nonviolent, nonutopian and populist in nature—with […]
As the myriad delgates wend their various snowy ways from the Copenhagen Global Warming Summit, what is the overall assessment? Not UN, but UM. Unambiguous Mess. Key aspects of the whole thing were a priori perverse from a Basic Diplomatic Technique point of view. Let’s audaciously and even hopefully assume that the science is […]
