Tag Archives: corruption

If Malthus and Ibn Khaldun were to meet for coffee…

Then you might get something like Peter Turchin’s War and Peace and War, which I’ve finally read on the recommendations of Kolya and TG. Ranging from Ermak’s subjugation of the Sibir Khanate to the rise of Rome, Turchin makes the … Continue reading

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Sublime News #1

I am beginning a new post category, Sublime News, in which I collate and comment on news bits and pieces that I find interesting over the past week. Whatever I write over the week will be automatically published every Saturday, … Continue reading

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The Endgame Begins

A year ago I predicted that there will be a “decoupling from the unwinding“, as “emerging markets” by and large ride out the temporary shocks of declining Western demand for their exports (China) and the interruption of Western credit intermediation … Continue reading

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Ecotechnic Dictatorship is Our Last Hope of Averting Collapse

As a follow-up to my article on the historical necessity of Green Communism, I would like to  1) refute some common myths and misconceptions about limits to growth-induced collapse, 2) clarify the concept of Green Communism, and 3) elucidate why … Continue reading

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Voice of the People Part 3

This is a summary of opinion polls conducted by the Levada-Center, Russia’s Gallup, since February 2009, and continues from Part 1 and Part 2. Along with the original post Lovely Levada, this series constitutes a unique English-language reference for social … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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