In times of the Internet, historical memory shrinks. Who remembers today that for almost half a century the United States of America represented the realm of enlightenment, truth and progress, while the other side of the Iron Curtain was ruled by arbitrariness, gulags and politically decreed lies? This contrast was inflated by mutual propaganda, certainly, but forced labor camps and those millions of people Stalin had sent to their deaths were bitter reality. There was so little doubt concerning this gruesome past that Solzhenitsyn’s accusations were read worldwide, that is even in Russia. When Gorbachev finally dared to say the truth, the collapse of the regime was inevitable.
Kategorie: Europe
Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis
Recently (on 14 August) I had the good fortune to follow an interview with the British historian Adam Tooze on Austrian Radio. I was so impressed that I immediately took to reading his book „Crashed. How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World“ (Allen Lane 2018) ) – and so an important work finally reached me with a two-year delay. These are my comments:
Adam Tooze – An experts’s review of ten years of global economic crisis weiterlesen
Strong Men, Weak Peoples – the Uncertain Future of Democracy
A critical reviewer would probably have to accompany this essay in the manner of Wikipedia: „additional evidence required“. Nevertheless, I dare to publish it, because I fear that there will never be enough evidence on this topic – but instead lots of different opinions. What I may offer the reader are mere impressions, everyone may supplement them in his own way and with his – hopefully better – knowledge. Strong Men, Weak Peoples – the Uncertain Future of Democracy weiterlesen
Fake Reality – two Reasons why even the Greens are only telling half the Truth about Climate Change
Dedicated to William E. Rees Fake Reality – two Reasons why even the Greens are only telling half the Truth about Climate Change weiterlesen
Krugman, Trump and Geopolitics
In an article published in the New York Times on 5 September („Trumpism Is Bad for Business“), Paul Krugman sharply criticized the economic sanctions imposed on China. Krugman, Trump and Geopolitics weiterlesen
The hand on the trigger: How an American president wantonly prepares the next war
The great world powers slipped into World War I without really wanting it. But they had been arming themselves for years, so all that was needed was but a spark – such as the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne – to detonate a powder keg filled to the rim. The hand on the trigger: How an American president wantonly prepares the next war weiterlesen
The Freedom without which we won’t be able to live
The harsh contradiction that will dominate the politics of the 21st century manifests itself in the opposition of two equally necessary, equally indispensable tendencies. The globalization of opportunities and fateful risks will force all states to renounce part of their sovereignty. The Freedom without which we won’t be able to live weiterlesen
From Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Pankaj Mishra – all those one-eyed judgments of history
Again and again the interpretation of history has been seduced by naive humanism, because the latter represents the voice of conscience without any ifs or buts. The castles in the air thus created are full of charm as they embody the noble ideal in the face of a reality which lacks such perfection. From Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Pankaj Mishra – all those one-eyed judgments of history weiterlesen
Climate Change and Mass Migration
I am fortunate enough to live in a country where nobody is hungry, nobody is persecuted because of his or her faith, color or race and where even at night people need not fear to be ambushed or murdered by starving people, desperate thieves or political fanatics. Climate Change and Mass Migration weiterlesen
The Curse of Globalization
I am living in Puch near Weiz, a small village in Styria. Some tourists who spend their holidays here will describe the place as dreamy, although local people are by no means idle dreamers, but hard-working men and women. The Curse of Globalization weiterlesen
Forebodings of war: US against China – hopefully a trade war only
As late as the end of the last century, one could read in Der Spiegel, a German magazine, that after the downfall of the Soviet Union the super-power US had achieved complete victory. In fact, Hollywood movies were on display all over the world, people dressed in jeans, singing and making American music, drinking Coca-Cola, and spreading Windows, Apple, and the American-made Internet all over the world. In the nineties, no world power seemed to exist or even to be conceivable other than the mighty United States of America. Forebodings of war: US against China – hopefully a trade war only weiterlesen
Capitalism, Wealth, and Power
The current moaning about neo-liberalism, tends to obscure the fact that the last two hundred years have seen nothing less than the greatest progress in human history, provided, of course, that we are willing to define progress in a purely material way. Capitalism, Wealth, and Power weiterlesen