"'Til Things Are Brighter I'm the Man On 'Stack" Edition
Hello,
Obligatory shilling. I wrote for the new edition of The Spectator World about the militant fringe of “incels” who peddle “the blackpill”. For The Daily Caller I wrote an outsider’s perspective on the USA. For First Things I considered different models of freedom in post-communist Europe.
I wrote for my paying subscribers about Russian chauvinism, NATO hubris and false hope in Ukraine. I also wrote for my paying subscribers about drill rap and online anthropology.
Power playing. Aris Roussinos writes bleakly on the prospects for Ukraine:
For Russia, there is therefore no better time to attack than now, while Europe is weak and divided and the Americans are distracted. The sheer size and strength of the Russian armed forces, which have rapidly modernised since 2014, will likely overwhelm any Ukrainian opposition. What happens next will be Putin’s choice, and perhaps he has not yet decided.
Communist chic. Ed West asks why left-wing mass murderers do not receive the same opprobrium as those of the right:
Lenin still appeals because he was an ‘eternal student’, part of that group of over-educated, middle-class intellectuals who grew up resentful of liberal parents, alienated from any religious or cultural tradition and despising their fellow countrymen. That, rather than being a lawyer, explains his continual appeal to some in the Labour Party.
It would be a mistake to expect pristine levels of humanitarianism from the leaders of the past. Still, the Bolsheviks were exceptionally enthusiastic in their sadism.
Walking the same path. The Paideia Forum is organising a sort of online academic mentorship program. Lecturers include Oliver Traldi, Ljiljana Radenovic and Henry Hopwood-Phillips. Its website states:
Mentors and students walk the same path, pursuing truth together in a spirit of collegiality that has vanished from universities. In order to grant this opportunity to the greatest number, Paideia offers its services online, ready to be accessed by those who feel time poor and knowledge starved.
A very interesting opportunity. Check it out.
Unreality TV. Geoff Shullenberger explores the absence of COVID restrictions from entertainment:
At minimum, the preference for unmasked entertainment is a tacit admission of a point often denied by advocates of strict Covid measures: the concealment of the human face carries a cost.
Man and beast. Francesca Peacock reviews an exhibition of the works of Francis Bacon:
The earlier primate is separated from the viewer by a cage of white lines illuminated on the black background, whilst the latter is placed on the end of a box that propels him into the middle of the canvas and the perspective’s endpoint. This is not to say that the viewer is safe from these disconcertingly-human, disconcertingly-screaming figures. If anything, the cage and the distorted distance make them more unsettling: what exists between the viewer and the animal? Why are they kept at one remove?
Have a lovely week,
Ben
As to Ukraine, I suspect Putin is only interested in the eastern part of the country, where the majority speak Russian and by and large are ethnically Russian, and where a lot of Russia's military industrial complex is located, in the old coal mines in and around - and mostly under - Donbass. The rest of the country is rural agricultural land, where much wheat is grown, and tends to be a sink for, rather than source of, money. Ukraine was in terrible financial shape when they had their revolution seven or so years ago, mostly in Russian-owned debt. And the government was terribly corrupt, but these days, government is synonymous with "endemic corruption", even here in the US - perhaps even more so, here. Rocket engines used to be manufactured in Kiev, so if that's still the case, that place might well be of interest as well. A change in government might finally be an Endlösung for the Ukrainian Nazis, so there's that, and that might be a pain in the ass for Russian occupiers for years to come. Here's a map, draw your own conclusions - https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/KorzH0pwWI9GWFnJt4zYjkBRBqQ=/1440x0/smart/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/5QJNDNG3PA7NBJCVWZK33JOZHU.jpg