Writings on History, Science, Reason, Classical Liberalism, the Alternative Future and the Philosophy of Life. Enjoy!!
Most of the posts here will largely focus on my Quora Answers as well as the Western History posts that I am working through in sequential fashion.
Please feel free to comment.
High inflation (government overspending) necessitated a sharp increase in interest rates. This hits the bond market negatively. Unfortunately for SVB their Risk Assessment group was asleep at the wheel. Joe Biden can often as many reassurances as he wants but there is no substitute for poor management. Expect the taxpayer to eventually pay the price.
China brokers agreement with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The US is left watching as the parade passes. Does the nation eve have a foreign policy under the current Administration? Where is Anthony Blinken? Score one for BRICS.
Top Gun Maverick robbed of more Oscars.
Frankly I couldn't care less about the Academy Awards but the fact that 2022's most popular movie was reduced to a single Oscar (for sound) illustrates how out of touch the Academy is with the rest of the country.
Yes. Wealth inequality in an environment that protects competition is vital to the economy. However a tipping point is reached if competitiveness decreases and the system moves to a type of oligopoly. This often occurs when excessive regulation and crony corruption stymies barriers towards entry into a field.
In much of the West today we are unfortunately either at this point or heading in that direction. Too much power exists with national governments and their corporate allies. This is made worse by the free hand given to central bankers. Fiat currency has had the net effect of wiping out a great deal of real savings and income. The high inflation that we see today is a function of policies that have radically increased the money supply at a time when production rates were deliberately pulled back (Covid, nonsense regulation etc).
What we have is a top heavy Ponzi system that serves the state elite and their hangers on - who can access the artificial money easier - while effectively increasing good prices for the rest of the public. In a sense this is a sinister way of taxing the middle class while pretending not to.
Bottom line….Never underestimate the power of the state to botch things up.
Yes he is. DeSantis gives you all of Trump’s strong policy points but none of Trump’s negative character flaws. He is more eloquent than Trump, far less divisive, resonates better with genuine conservatives, is not riddled with scandals and will likely bring in the independent /centrist vote that the GOP needs to win in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania. He is also a man of action who will focus on what matters instead of defaulting to the Trumpist playbook of name-calling, social media feuds, salesman promises and never ending hyperbole.
Trump has had his time in the sun and it would be best for the nation if he steps aside instead of acting as a spoiler nationally. His continued presence and stifling cult of personality will in all likelihood guarantee a Democratic party victory in 2024. In addition the longer Trump remains on the scene the more he will act as bonfire fuel for extremists on both sides. America deserves better and in DeSantis they have such a candidate.
Why did France lose to England in the Hundred Years War? What were some turning points that led to the French defeat?
Actually France won the Hundred Year War (1337–1453). Yes I know they lost many of the well known battles (Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt) but the war was a marathon not a sprint. England (who certainly enjoyed the lion’s share of early success) was left in turmoil after the death of Henry V in 1422. A French revival was initiated by Joan of Arc at the siege of Orleans in 1429. The Burgundians, a key ally of the English, would eventually desert and this strengthened the French position. Later French victories took place at Rouen, Formigny and Castillon with the Gallic cannons being instrumental such a change of fortune.
At the end of the war England was reduced to one possession in France, Calais, that they would eventually cede to the French in 1558. This was far less territory than that enjoyed by the Plantagenet dynasty of earlier times.
Did Napoleon expect to conquer Britain?
If Napoleon's fleet had succeeded at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) then I believe that he may have seen conquest of Britain as a possibility. It certainly would have consolidated his hegemony in Europe by ensuring dominance of Bonapartist ideology (a mixture of French Revolution humanism, nationalism and a strong central state) over English Liberalism. However the loss at Trafalgar effectively negated his aspirations in a way that was not too different to the damage done to Operation Sea Lion by Germany’s defeat at the Battle of Britain (1940).
Napoleon saw Britain as a gigantic thorn a thorn that could be extracted later by weakening Britain through his Continental System of blockades and economic warfare. What he underestimated though was the ability of his so-called ‘allies’ to enforce such a strategy as well as the zeal that the British demonstrated (thanks to the Royal Navy and its colonial Empire) in thwarting such ambition.
Did President Nixon ever meet with Leonid Brezhnev?
Yes they met at the Washington Summit in June 1973. The Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War was signed representing the peak of Détente. In the Soviet Union the press referred to Détente as a relaxing of tension. The Washington Summit followed on the heels of the Geneva Summit (1955) and SALT I (1972). Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Alexei Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union) were key players in the Washington Summit as well.
We live in a world that is deluged with bad ideas,
false narratives and a toxic political tribalism. Science, education and public
policy have all been bombarded by a malfeasance that is challenging the
essential framework of our vital institutions.
Navigating the Chaos is the passionate and well reasoned attempt of one
man to make sense of the daily insanity and chart a course that re-affirms the
necessity of our Authentic Liberal tradition.
The book makes no apologies in taking to task the rot that
threatens our society. However, it is not an exercise in pessimism. For as the
author emphasizes, clarity fosters an inner strength, that when augmented by
the wisdom of others, can energize communities to push back against dangerous
post-truths that are harming the shared civilization.
What were the consequences of Mao's Great Leap Forward?
A Giant Leap Backwards. The Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) resulted in one of the largest famines in human history. Death estimates range from 15 to 55 million. The entire exercise in economic and social restructuring was an unmitigated disaster.
The only positive was that Mao was eventually forced (at least temporally) to allow Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping to proceed cautiously in the future with any future changes. However this did not last long.
Ever the ideologue though, Mao could still not come to terms with his policy failure He placed the blame on the Party’s rightists thus precipitating another round of death in what was to become known as the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).
In terms of absolute numbers of death it had been argued that Mao topped both Stalin and Hitler.
Having said this I am under no illusion that the myriad of CCP bots here on Quora will try and spin this in a positive light or gaslight the issue altogether.
For number of death re: Great Leap Forward Famine check out.
Was a war between the Soviet Union and Germany inevitable?
Yes. Hitler’s focus on acquiring Lebensraum in the East meant that war between these powers was likely to happen sometime in the near future. The Soviets knew this as well but were betting that it would occur at a later date than it did (June 22nd 1941). Some historians (check out the Viktor Surov thesis) have argued that the Soviets would have attacked Germany first had the time been right but this is not a well supported mainstream view. Having said that, one could say that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (August 1938) was in many ways more of a delaying strategy that benefited both parties than anything else.
Why has Japan produced so many Nobel Prize winning scientists?
They modernized earlier then the rest of Asia (and for that matter a great deal of Europe) and have a general population that has one of the highest gfactor values (general intelligence) for all nations. This means that on a global level they have a large number of people as a proportion of the country above the 120 IQ level (SD=15). This correlates well with innovation, analytic thought and Nobel Prize wins in the sciences.
Why were the French people so poor before the Revolution?
They had a top down class system that restricted upward mobility while foistering on the the 3rd Estate a ridiculously high tax burden. If want block all paths to life improvement both socially and economically, poverty is the natural outcome. The Ancien Regime did both. It was the antithesis of genuine liberalism.
I am by no means a Biden fan and consider him a dumpster fire of President when it comes to foreign affairs but I don’t believe that you can completely blame Old Joe for Russia and China’s apparent geopolitical embrace.
Such a cocktail of malevolence and incompetence was set in motion and later maintained by all Presidents from the 1990s onward, who empowered China by the gift of Most Favored Nation (MFN) trading status (although Trump pushed back more than the others). This policy greatly strengthened the Chinese economy by allowing Beijing to benefit from the utility of more open trade while selectively flouting what didn’t suit them. China was set on its road to becoming a trading superpower.
Then add on to such an economic transformation the parallel expansion of NATO into the many territories and nation states that were formerly part of the Old Warsaw Pact and you have a second ingredient. From Moscow’s perspective the arrow of aggression was directly pointed at them.
Russia though has oil and natural gas. Lots of it. China needs this for her burgeoning economy and so you have a match made in heaven (or hell depending on perspective). Russia can use China to push back against Western influence (especially when faced with wartime sanctions) while China can exploit the gas station next door. Its a win-win for both. The Ukraine war merely brought what was inevitable to the front.
