Monthly Archives: June 2009

Responses to common Russophobe “Arguments”

By AK | Published: June 28, 2009
At certain venues, “Russophiles” take a lot of flak for holding the beliefs and worldviews that they do. Many of their “arguments” can be predicted in advance based on prior experience. I’ve compiled a list of quick rebuttals to some common Russophobe accusations and insinuations so that we don’t have to waste our time formulating [...]
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Notes on “The Olduvai Theory” (R. Duncan)

By AK | Published: June 28, 2009
Duncan, Richard – The Olduvai Theory Energy, Population, and Industrial Civilization (2006) Category: collapse, dieoff, resource depletion; Rating: 2/5 This is a summary of a classic “doomer” theory amongst students of world energy and ecological trends, which predicts that the electric grids will go into permanent blackout soon after the peak of world oil production – which [...]
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The Dilemmas of Global Dimming

By AK | Published: June 28, 2009
Not only is global warming a real and present threat that may yet in conjunction with impending energy shortages doom industrial civilization, it may have even been dangerously underestimated. What have you been smoking!?, you might say to me. Get off the doom train and enjoy the Sun. Unfortunately, we might not have much of [...]
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Notes on “The Last Generation” (F. Pearce)

By AK | Published: June 25, 2009
Pearce, Fred – The Last Generation: How Nature will take her Revenge for Climate Change (2008) PDF Category: global warming; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Amazon reviews Another excellent book on climate change that goes beyond the conservative conclusions of the IPCC reports, with the emphasis here being on change that happens with speed and violence after the crossing of [...]
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Manipulating Russia’s Manipulation of History

By AK | Published: June 23, 2009
This is a summary of my views on the controversy surrounding the “Stalinist” Russian history textbooks, with the translation of the most offending chapter in question given here. This was originally published at Johnson’s Russia List. Manipulating Russia’s Manipulation of History Anatoly Karlin Stalin was the “most successful Soviet leader”. Thus proclaims Filippov’s controversial textbook A New History of [...]
Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

The Approach of the New Persian Empire

By AK | Published: June 18, 2009
With the recent election of the controversial (to put it mildly) Ahmadinejad to the Iranian Presidency, it is time to look at what this portends for the future of Iran and the Middle East region in general. The first question we need to ask is whether Ahmadinejad’s victory was free and fair. Stratfor believes it may [...]
Posted in Coffee House, Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Blogging in WP

By AK | Published: June 16, 2009
(This is re-posted from a page of the same name on Sublime Oblivion.) Since I’ve used Wordpress (WP) for quite a while now, perhaps I’m now competent enough to give some advice for would be (and current!) bloggers interested in using this platform. Starting Out * Since moving from Blogger to self-hosted WP in November 2008, I’ve never [...]
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Through the Looking Glass at Russia’s Demography

By AK | Published: June 13, 2009
This is a succinct summary of my views on Russian demography, written about 2 months ago. Through the Looking Glass at Russia’s Demography By Anatoly Karlin In 1992, for the first time since the Great Patriotic War, deaths exceeded births, forming the so-called “Russian Cross”. Since then the population fell from 149mn to 142mn souls. Ravaged by AIDS, [...]
Posted in Da Russophile | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments