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Monthly Archives: April 2009
Preparing for the Pandemic
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few days, you will know the world is facing a possible swine flu pandemic originating from Mexico. As I write this, on the evening of April 27 California time, there are … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House
11 Comments
Rite of Spring: Russia Fertility Trends
This is an article I wrote for Russia Blog. After its long pre-modern stint as Europe’s most populated nation, France started transitioning to lower birth rates from the Napoleonic era, about a century in advance of the rest of Europe. … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House, Da Russophile, Sublime Oblivion
6 Comments
Grenade Fishing on the Potomac
Though hard to imagine, the Washington Post – or Pravda on the Potomac, as Eugene Ivanov quite rightly labels it – surpassed even its own sordid standards for Russia coverage, in the form of the latest op-ed from George F. … Continue reading
Posted in Da Russophile
9 Comments
Victimized Venezuela III: The Road to Reconciliation
At the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, two great leaders, Obama and Chavez, shook hands in what could be the symbolic first gesture of reconciliation. Treasonous neocons will no doubt rush to condemn this as yet another limp-wristed … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House
10 Comments
Twitter Terror in Moldova
This was also kindly published on Johnson’s Russia List and republished at Guardian-PSJ. Download PDF. Twitter Terror: Unraveling the Unrest in Moldova Riding on the apathy of the masses, crony Communists rig the elections in a small, corrupt post-Soviet backwater … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House, Da Russophile
30 Comments
Review of “World made by Hand” (J. Kunstler)
Kunstler, James – World made by Hand (2008) PDF Category: post-collapse fiction, oil peak; Rating: 3/5 Summary: Energy Bulletin Review (Keith Thomas) 2008 I actually wrote this a few months ago and posted it up, but deleted it for some … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion
4 Comments
Notes on “The Collapse of Complex Societies” (J. Tainter)
Tainter, Joseph – The Collapse of Complex Societies (1988) PDF Category: collapse, resource depletion; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Complexity, Problem Solving and Sustainable Societies (J. Tainter) 1996 As you may have noticed from the sidebar, I am currently researching a book … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion
6 Comments
Was the French Revolution primarily a Class Struggle?
This is an old essay I wrote on interpreting the French Revolution (pdf). I copied it here from my sole paper copy – unfortunately I’ve lost the references. The basic argument is that far from consolidating the historical victory of … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House
3 Comments