Has modern history shown that invaders who have lost are less greedy for land after they’ve been given a partial parcel of the land they invaded but could not conquer?
War and Peace
Something Light from Ukraine
Netflix is streaming Servant of the People; we’ve been enjoying it. A sit com juxtaposed with the daily news of death and destruction is trivial, but few cultural artifacts are more interesting than those that reveal what a nation laughs at, what it likes. The series satirizes corrupt government but also reflects daily life and asserts values that attracted its public.
The charismatic Zelensky we see on the news has a touch of the honorable, naive history teacher he portrayed just a few years ago; we’ve only seen the first few episodes, but the ghost we might most want to represent our own history – Abraham Lincoln – appears to advise him as he nervously goes over his inaugural speech.
Some of you may be (quite understandably) opposed to Netflix, but I’m not sure if this is streaming somewhere else. If anyone knows of other outlets or where the second season or the film produced between the two is showing, please comment.
Russia and Ukraine
Vitaliy Katsenelson, who grew up in Russia and now lives in Colorado (where he works as an investment manager) has written a long 4-part essay on Russia/Ukraine. Includes comments on what he is hearing from old friends back in Russia. Highly recommended reading.
You’ll need to register with an email address, but he only sends an email every 2 weeks or so, and it is usually interesting…hewrites primarily about investing, but also about art and music.
Heuristics for Ukraine (and other places)
NB: some of the following is from a recent videoconference that included our own Trent Telenko, who is very much the man of the hour, but some of it is more publicly available, not to mention common sense. First, though, as is my wont, a quadrant diagram to organize my presentation …
I. Theater “Hardware” (physical assets/consequences)
Worthwhile Reading & Viewing
From 2018: The Psychology of Progressive Hostility
Democrats: The Party of Performance Art
One root of cancel culture can be found in how we teach history
Benefits of the decline in higher education enrollments
Title VIII damage remedies as a driver of Wokeness
An experienced battalion commander talks about the 5%, the 15%, and the 80%
Understanding hypersonic missile systems
Stalin scholar Stephen Kotkin on Putin, Russia, and the West
An argument that we will not see a new Age of Empires
Thoughts from China on Ukraine
The winner on Ukraine?…Not Russia, not America, but China
Getting a sense of the Russian soul
Putin’s Russia versus Pushkin’s Russia
Update: Two interesting interviews with Putin, by a political scientist and an art historian.