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Monthly Archives: December 2009
Surviving Collapse Part 1
As regular readers will know, I am rather fascinated by the phenomenon of collapse, i.e. the relatively quick fall in socio-political complexity that tends to accompany the fall of nations, empires, and civilizations. Now it’s all well and good to … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion
Tagged chaos, collapse, corruption, culture, life, vision
5 Comments
Freedom, Welfare, and the Future
The welfare state, or what we conceive of as such today, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although pre-modern states did perform some pro-welfare functions such as regulating prices and wages, maintaining workhouses for the poor and even a limited form … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House, Sublime Oblivion
Tagged britain, demography, economy, history, human rights, politics, sweden
1 Comment
Russia’s Sex Traditions
Sean recently suggested Russianists study the history of smell in Russia. I have an even better idea: a history of sex in Russia, or rather my translation (PDF) of the tabloid article Сексуальные традиции на Руси (Russian Sexual Traditions). It’s historically … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House, Da Russophile, Translations
Tagged culture, history, Humor, morale, Russia Resources, russians, sex
5 Comments
Interview @ Siberian Light
Posted in Da Russophile
Tagged collapse, core article, human rights, imperialism, interview, liberasty, life, me, morale, philosophy, politics, putin, rant, resource depletion, Russia Resources, russians, russophobes, singularity, soviet union, usa, western hypocrisy, western media
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10 Myths about Russia’s Demography
This post tries to debunk some popular, but misguided, views on demographic trends in today’s Russia. These consist of the perception that Russia is in a demographic “death spiral” that dooms it to national decline (Biden, Eberstadt, NIC, CIA, Stratfor, etc). … Continue reading
Posted in Da Russophile
Tagged demography, morale, public health, russians, russophobes, western media
23 Comments
Lessons from Byzantium
I finally watched the film Гибель Империи. Византийский урок (Death of an Empire: the Byzantine Lesson), narrated by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, the father-confessor of Vladimir Putin. This film takes a stylized interpretation of the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire … Continue reading
Posted in Da Russophile, Sublime Oblivion
Tagged collapse, corruption, culture, history, imperialism, islam, liberasty, morale, politics, review, Russia Resources, russians, russophobes, stalin, video, western hypocrisy
4 Comments
Cliodynamics: Mathematizing History
One of the most interesting emerging sciences today, in my opinion, is cliodynamics. Their practitioners attempt to come to with mathematical models of history to explain “big history” – things like the rise of empires, social discontent, civil wars, and … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion
Tagged china, collapse, corruption, demography, education, history, review, Reviews, science, technology
4 Comments
Review of “Guns, Germs, and Steel” (J. Diamond)
While trawling through my computer archives, I stumbled across this book review of Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel” from five years ago. Overall, it’s a great book, better than his follow-up “Collapse”, which is also interesting – especially in … Continue reading
Posted in Coffee House, Reviews
Tagged agriculture, culture, demography, environment, pandemic, public health, review, science, technology
1 Comment