Archives for April 2009

Rite of Spring: Russia Fertility Trends

This about Demographics, tagged , , , , was written by for on April 26, 2009 .5 Comments

After its long pre-modern stint as Europe’s most populated nation, France started transitioning to lower birth rates from the Napoleonic era, about a century in advance of the rest of Europe. On the eve of the First World War, its stagnant population made a stark contrast to German youth and virility. Considering the disparity in […]

Grenade Fishing on the Potomac, Or: The Idiocy of George F. Will

This about Demographics, tagged , , was written by for on April 20, 2009 .7 Comments

Though hard to imagine, the Washington Post – or Pravda on the Potomac, as Eugene Ivanov quite rightly labels it – surpassed even its own sordid standards for Russia coverage, in the form of the latest op-ed from George F. Will in Potemkin Country. Time to go grenade fishing again, I guess. America’s “progressive” president […]

Victimized Venezuela III: Myths And Reality

This about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on April 19, 2009 .10 Comments

At the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, two great leaders, Obama and Chavez, shook hands in what could be the symbolic first gesture of reconciliation. Treasonous neocons will no doubt rush to condemn this as yet another limp-wristed and unilateral concession to “America’s enemies”, reminding their listeners that Chavez closed down opposition media, […]

Twitter Terror: Unraveling the Unrest in Moldova

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , was written by for on April 11, 2009 .27 Comments

Riding on the apathy of the masses, crony Communists rig the elections in a small, corrupt post-Soviet backwater to retain their iron grip on power. But their dastardly plans to crush democracy and draw benighted Moldova back into the Eurasian darkness are foiled by the heroic students of Chisinau. Inspired by their boudiccan (and photogenic) […]

Book Review: James Kunstler – World Made by Hand

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for , on April 10, 2009 .4 Comments

“World Made by Hand” by James Howard Kunstler, published in 2008. Rating: 3/5. World Made by Hand is a speculative fiction book about how a sociopolitical collapse may be experienced by small-town Americans. It is of a reasonable length, engaging and generally well-written, although far from a literary masterpiece – not that that is necessarily a […]

Was the French Revolution primarily a Class Struggle?

This about History, tagged , , , was written by for on April 4, 2009 .3 Comments

The classic Marxist argument holds than an emerging bourgeois class, its wealth based on commerce, industry and capital accumulation, was constrained and frustrated in its political ambitions by the nobility. France was divided into Three Estates, the Third Estate which bore the taille (the main direct tax), the nobility (subject only to the capitation poll […]

Farewell, Readers!

This about Blogging, tagged , , was written by for on April 1, 2009 .14 Comments

After a months-long crisis of conviction, I unequivocally reject my support, rationalization and in a sense enablement of the reptilian thugs, fascists and kleptocrats who stalk the parapets of the Kremlin. I sincerely apologize to my loyal readers for so cynically misleading them for more than a year and polluting cyberspace with my lies, disinformation […]