The big story of the week is the G20 Summit in New Delhi and what it reveals about the new force fields of the multipolar world. With the UN General Assembly meeting next week, the world is walking from the wrecked starship of US diplomacy, the USS Exceptionalism.
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Did Oppenheimer get his Indian scripture wrong?
Reportedly, Oppenheimer read Sanskrit. But one small archival discovery I made in making the video was that Oppenheimer may have misquoted or used a poor translation of the line from the Gita.
My upcoming book, memoir of a bureaucrat
This week, I finished editing 13 Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Writings on Governing, and realised that this collection of essays is also a kind of memoir. It is a way for me to use my own history to live mindfully in the present. Bringing it to publication has made me realise how longContinueContinue reading “My upcoming book, memoir of a bureaucrat”
Peace is a desire. War is a fact.
All ordinary citizens of the world desire peace, even if their leaders conspire for war. All ordinary citizens of the world need to see war as it is, even if the media dream machines narrate stories of good and evil.
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Podcast 75 & 76 – Ivan the Terrible – Parts One and Two
In this 8th podcast episode in the ‘Black Legend of Russian History’ the myths about Ivan the Terrible are outlined, and then the stranger stories of his life are told.
Podcast 74. Russia’s First Civil War – the Time of Troubles and Two Murder Mysteries
In the early 1600s Russia suffered a traumatic civil war, political instability and social chaos – the Time of Troubles. Find out more on my latest podcast.
The Burning Archive Podcast 73. Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and the Russian Enlightenment
As part of the continuing series of telling Russian History backwards and debunking the ‘Black Legend of Russian History, Jeff Rich tells the tale of Russia’s 18th century when there was one great Emperor and four remarkable Empresses.
Podcast series of Russian History begins with 65. Black Legend and 66. Gorbachev
I have released two new episodes of The Burning Archive podcast. Episode 65 The Black Legend of Russian History We cannot hope to find peace with Russia unless we seek to understand Russian history in all its complexity, its highs and lows, its tragedies and its farces, its inspirations and its horrors. To understand thatContinueContinue reading “Podcast series of Russian History begins with 65. Black Legend and 66. Gorbachev”
Two New Podcasts on Russia and Ukraine
Tonight I released my latest podcast, Please Don’t Cancel Russia, episode 60. When in early 2022 Russia decided to invade Ukraine, the Western world especially the Anglo-American World went mad kind of mad – with anger, fury and some justified rage. But it also made a strange attempt not just to restore International Peace, butContinueContinue reading “Two New Podcasts on Russia and Ukraine”
The Making of My Podcast on the History of the Mafia
Does the history of the mafia have more to do with Italian Risorgimento politics, prisons and the disruptions of the nineteenth century than medieval brotherhoods?
Flowers of the Mind 22
The NATO-Russia War and the last phase of the 100 Years Cold War. Advice on staying sane in an information war, a Kulturkampf. The Great Separation in the Multipolar World. Folly and fraud in Melbourne. Lev Gumilev, and the traditions of Eurasia in Russian thought. Legutko on the demons of liberal democracy, the totalitarian temptation that is collapsing the buildings of the old world order.
Podcast 32. This Archive is For the Players
In this playful episode of The Burning Archive, special guest and recent Monash University graduate, Isaac Rich poses six questions about history drawn from his scholarship of gaming. The question is – will the Burning Archive be prepared?
Podcast #13 – Change everything but change itself
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is https://anchor.fm/jeff-rich4/embed/episodes/13-Change-everything-but-change-itself-e15tipu and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this episode of the Burning Archive, Jeff Rich completes his 12 part thematic history of our times. Historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto writes about the impact of accelerating change on society over the last 50 years: “Under theContinueContinue reading “Podcast #13 – Change everything but change itself”
The World Island vs The Atlantic
This year, 2021, may be remembered as a pivot year in world history. Not because of the pandemic. Not only because of the protracted crisis of the American republic. But because of the changed balance of power in international relations brought about by the decrepitude of the American Atlanticist Alliance and the strengthening of theContinueContinue reading “The World Island vs The Atlantic”
The fall of the American Empire’s Potemkin Province
Thus , in a few blitzkrieg weeks, after the Americans declared they would “draw down their civilian footprint” to meet a publicity deadline of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban have exposed American power and control in Afghanistan as a projection of illusion, a Potemkin Province of an anxious empire in decline.
The Burning Archive podcast 9 – the Red Guards are Coming
The latest episode of my podcast discusses the Chinese Cultural Revolution – is such ferment and fervour to be celebrated or to be feared? https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YrFJ62wK9MYZ78zuntW7s?si=u8N8pHWVSEKexQ70HtBZVA&utm_source=native-share-menu&dl_branch=1
Watch “Five Poems – 4 – Dr. Cogito Enters the Feral City” on YouTube
Burning Archive Podcast #6 – The true history of the bureaucracy gang
I have posted episode 6 of The Burning Archive Podcast, – the true history of the bureaucracy gang. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. In this episode I discuss the history of the bureaucracy in the UK, USA and Germany, and its relationship to political decay. And I ask,ContinueContinue reading “Burning Archive Podcast #6 – The true history of the bureaucracy gang”