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The Long View 2009-03-09

The Long View 2009-03-09

John J. Reilly helps us to understand what decadence means: Barzun laconically informs us that late medieval Europe was a "decadent" society. I myself had thought that Richard Gilman had permanently retired that word with his study "Decadence: The Strange Life of an Epithet," but Barzun

The Long View: The Brothers Karamazov

John J. Reilly felt that The Brothers Karamazov was a window into the Russian soul. I haven’t read the book myself, so I’ll have to await your comments. The Brothers Karamazov By Fyodor Dostoevsky First Published in Russian 1880 English Translation by Andrew R. MacAndrew Bantam Classic Reissue

The Long View 2007-09-24: Danilevsky; Demographics; The Syrian Desert; Cumbey

As John points out here, it probably shouldn’t have been surprising that Russia would eventually revert to her historic pattern of Church-State relations, but the twentieth century had some rather dramatic events that obscured that pattern for a time. And “eventually” can sometimes be a very long time. Along

The Long View 2007-09-05: Eureka; Babyboomski; Chambers Initiative; The Deal to Save Iraq

Demography is always more mysterious, and the data messier, than the models that get used often imply. In this post, John looks at early signs that Russian demographics were exiting the death spiral state of more deaths than births in 2007. The absolute difference wouldn’t cross zero for another

The Long View 2007-03-12: Several Small Matters and a Large One

A common theme in theories [or future histories] that posit the formation of a universal state in the next hundred years or so is that they almost always also posit a re-unification of Christianity. Since the schisms between the apostolic churches are often at least related to jurisdictional differences in

The Long View 2006-12-26: The Children of Men; Geopolitical Broken Windows

One of the most fascinating things about P. D. James’ dystopia Children of Men is that so many people invest so much time and effort into trying to make it a reality. The Children of Men; Geopolitical Broken Windows Once upon a time there were two goats that were eating

The Long View 2006-12-07: Iraq Study Group; Vladimir the Poisoner; Space Colonization

The Patrick Buchanan article John links to here looks a little batshit [OK, more than a little] in retrospect, given that Vladimir Putin has whacked a number of political enemies inside and outside of Russia in the years since. Iraq Study Group; Vladimir the Poisoner; Space Colonization If you insist