Film Review: Wheel of Time S01

This about Culture, tagged , , , was written by for , on January 27, 2022 .No Comments

Wheel of Time: Season 1 (2022) ★

Rafe’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s world of eternal return keeps your eyes glued to the screen just on account of how utterly bad and cringe it is.

WAGMI: The %TOTAL Maximizer

This , about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for , on November 4, 2021 .6 Comments

Fictional short story in which an AI takes over the world by leveraging its financial dominance in the cryptocurrency space.

Moscow’s Pacification

This about Society, tagged , , , was written by for on October 20, 2021 .19 Comments

Moscow’s homicide rate now lower than London’s.

Open Takes 1

This about Admin, tagged , was written by for on October 8, 2021 .67 Comments

Open Discussion thread.

The Last Reaction

This about Blogging, tagged , was written by for on October 8, 2021 .490 Comments

Announcement of Departure from The Unz Review

The Wheel Turns, Ages Come and Go, And Thus Dies the Russian Reaction

Open Thread 167

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 30, 2021 .387 Comments

In his latest newsletter, Adam Tooze points out that the Chinese government is asserting greater state control over the economy, including the power of Chinese business magnates to “cash out” of their holdings. In retrospect, this is perhaps the most logical explanation for the crypto crackdown. Diana Fleischman has a good article in Quillette on how […]

Russia’s Nationalist Turn

This , about Politics, tagged , , , , was written by for on September 28, 2021 .770 Comments

How Putin Created the Russian National State

In the capstone to my Russia watching career, I argue that late Putinism has adopted the Russian nationalist program near wholesale. Or so it seemed at the time…

China Isn’t Going to Make It

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 24, 2021 .416 Comments

I have been a long-term China bull since I began blogging. Proof (2008). A lot of what the Western media was writing about China were based on Sinophobic fantasies that had no correlation with reality. Just to be clear, I am still a China bull, at least in the sense that I’m sure its GDP […]

Open Thread 166

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 23, 2021 .239 Comments

🇷🇺💪🇮🇳 As usual, “real result” of United Russia would have been around 35% instead of 50% (and a simple majority instead of a Constitutional majority). But Western criticisms much less effective in the wake of analogous – if statistically implausible – claims about the 2020 US elections. EVERGRANDE. I was a China bull since I started […]

Megatsunami

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 19, 2021 .68 Comments

There’s not much point worrying much over geological existential risks. They come too infrequently too be a major risk, and those that do occur more often, are not big enough to matter in the big picture. Still, if there’s one risk that is both potentially highly destructive and occurs at a relatively high rate, it […]

Russian Elections 2021: The Thread

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 19, 2021 .155 Comments

For the past two days I have been awoken by loudspeakers in my neighborhood playing Soviet-themed music telling me to go vote in the elections in a radio announcer type voice. Here are the wealth of choices I have on offer in my district: Elena Gulnicheva, commie QT endorsed by Navalny’s “Smart Vote”. Incidentally, it looks […]

Open Thread 165

This about *default, tagged , was written by for on September 16, 2021 .273 Comments

Another pilgrimage to the Fortress Monastery. AOMI. Robin Hanson: The Insular Fertile Future. Reproductively successful cultures are insular from the global culture. Scott Alexander: Book Review: Modi – A Political Biography * AFGHANISTAN. Apparently internal frictions amongst the Taliban, with Pakistani-backed hardliners winning out and filling the Cabinet exclusively with Taliban (in so doing breaking their commitment […]