Tag Archives: europe

The Race To Collapse

Posted on November 25, 2011 by AK

As readers of this blog know, I have long regarded the return of economic crisis as an inevitability (because the core energy and no-growth predicament facing the Western world wasn’t solved in 2008-9 but merely kicked further down the road by … Continue reading →

Posted in Coffee House | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 79 Comments

The Power Of Contingency: Why China Didn’t Rule The World

Posted on July 30, 2011 by AK

Pomeranz, Kenneth – The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (2001) Category: economy, history, world systems; Rating: 5*/5 Summary: Brad DeLong’s review; The Bactra Review; Are Coal and Colonies Really Crucial? It’s a rare book that not only … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion, The Sino Triumphalist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 71 Comments

Interview with Craig Willy (Letters from Europe)

Posted on May 16, 2011 by AK

After a year long hiatus from interviewing Russia watchers, I decided it was time to get back in the game. As it happens, my attention first fell on a Europe blogger – and not just any incisive, counter-intuitive scribbler whose intellect and … Continue reading →

Posted in Coffee House, Watching the Russia Watchers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Walled Off By Complexity: Did China Stagnate Because Of Its Writing System?

Posted on May 7, 2011 by AK

One of the biggest questions in global history is why it was Western Europe that industrialized first, and ended up colonizing most of the rest of the world. As late as 1450, the possibility of such an outcome would have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 56 Comments

National Comparisons: The People

Posted on April 8, 2011 by AK

The second part of my series comparing Russia, Britain, and the US focuses on the people themselves. What are their strengths and foibles? How do they vary by class, region, race, and religion? How do they view each other and … Continue reading →

Posted in National Comparisons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Top 5 Demography Myths

Posted on June 20, 2010 by AK

In this post, I intend to disprove or at least question five commonly encountered myths about world demography (as I already did for Russia). 1. The Third World is experiencing a fertility-driven population explosion. Whereas this was true a generation … Continue reading →

Posted in Coffee House, Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , | 46 Comments

Russia isn’t hated by (most of) its neighbors

Posted on June 8, 2010 by AK

One of the staples of the neocon-Russophobe narrative is that Russia is alone in the world, utterly bereft of friends, left only with the likes of Nicaragua and Nauru to indulge it in its anachronistic “imperial fantasies”. Not really. Conflating … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile, Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

The People’s Choice, or how Ukrainians are learning to stop worrying and love Eurasia

Posted on May 17, 2010 by AK

I enjoyed the egg-throwing scenes from Ukraine’s Rada on the ratification of the gas-for-fleet deal with Russia as much as anyone. It also reflected the polarized commentary on the interwebs. The Ukrainian patriot-bloggers get their knickers in a sweaty twist. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Da Russophile, Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

If Malthus and Ibn Khaldun were to meet for coffee…

Posted on April 8, 2010 by AK

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 →

Posted in Reviews, Sublime Oblivion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments