Why read Olga Tokarczuk, Winner of 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature? Find out in this fourth episode of my series on the Nobel Prize for Literature. It discusses the life of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, the novelist Olga Tokarczuk. I give you 10 reasons to read one of the most celebrated NobelContinueContinue reading “Why read Olga Tokarczuk, Winner of 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature? Podcast Ep. 120”
Tag Archives: Ukraine
Stabs in the Back, Countered Knock-Out Blows, Ukraine and World War One
Meanwhile, in another cauldron of the unruly multipolar world, the Ruin of Ukraine continues. I am still holding back from commenting deeply on the Ukraine War, but there were some interesting comments I noticed during the week that coincidentally resonated with my reading 1916: A Global History. History it seems is repeating in 2023.
Olga Tokarcuk, Nobel Prize and multicultural identities
I watched a wonderful interview with Olga Tokarczuk, the author of The Books of Jacob and winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Zelensky Dream Ends in Vilnius
The big story of the week is the standoff between the NATO allies and Ukraine at the Vilnius Summit. Famously, President Zelensky was photographed all alone and angry, after being refused a pathway to membership to the “greatest alliance in history”.
The 30-hour Prigozhin Protest: insurrection, protest, psy-op or breakdown?
The protest of Yevgeny Prigozhin and a small group of his Wagner fighters is over. It began and ended in 30 hours. Noone died. So the Russian government has controlled the protest, and most likely emerged stronger.
The second casualty of war?
The first casualty of war is truth. But what is the second casualty?
When Melbourne Spurned St. Petersburg
Melbourne City Councillors should reflect on the reality of its long pretence to be a sister city with St Petersburg. The ‘sister relationship’ always flattered Melbourne.
The Flowers of Ukraine
Sadly one of the tragic, compassionate lessons of history is that sometimes people can destroy themselves. There are many examples in history where people become possessed by strange ideas, and when these possessed elites follow a path of ruin.
My new beginning as an independent author
This week was the beginning of the next stage in my new life, la vita nuova as an independent author. After a ritual week on the liminal beauty of the Bay of Lorne in South-Eastern Australia, I transformed from a government official, wounded and now retired, to become an independent author.
Who is winning the war in Ukraine and what are the stories of this war?
I have produced three episodes of the podcast/channel on the state of play of the war in Ukraine. How do we make sense of the events leading up to the war in Ukraine, and throughout the year of 2022? There have been many news stories, many podcasts and many channels looking at the unfolding events in Ukraine from day to day, In these episodes, however, I step back from the daily news cycle, and explore what it means for us as ordinary citizens looking on at these distressing events and wanting states to find their way back to diplomacy and dialogue.
Three historical notes on Putin’s 2022 Victory Day Parade Speech
Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day speech tells stories of how Russia has responded to threats by embracing multi-ethnic, multi-national traditions.
What if Russia Wins?
So, it seems reasonable at least to ask: what will happen in the West if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?
Colour Revolution on a Chaise-Longue
I took to reading Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train (2016) this morning while reclining on a scarlet chaise-longue and bathing in autumnal sunshine. The cat was on my lap, but my attention kept slipping…. [Read More]
Podcast 51 (14 April 2022) War and Peace and the Conflict in Ukraine
War is terrible. War is troubling. War poses difficult questions for us all. This war in Ukraine, which is spreading globally through sanctions, bans, social media and slogans, presents those questions too. This episode of The Burning Archive responds to a listener question that just might help us get closer to peace, and that makeContinueContinue reading “Podcast 51 (14 April 2022) War and Peace and the Conflict in Ukraine”
Flowers of the Mind 25
This debate from a major show in India gives a good insight into how the USA has alienated Indian elites. It is one event in an rushing cascade of intellectual revolt against the Anglo-American world, against the Netflix stream of American thinking about the world, diplomacy, democracy, economics etc. The world is saying: America, look at me, I am the captain now.
Flowers of the Mind 24
So much of the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the tragic encounters of the elites of empires and ethno-linguistic national identities. We are seeing a new version of this struggle between confected social media national identities, concealing troubled and exclusive ethno-lingusitic reasoning, and collapsing imperial orders.
Flowers of the Mind 23
A new iron curtain is falling across the “Western” or Anglo-American world. This time curtain is not being brought down by a reincarnated Russian empire. It is being brought down by a failing empire of lies, the media-theatre state of the Global American Empire, spiralling into a dynastic collapse.
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.
Flowers of the Mind 21
The last phase of the Hundred Years (mostly) Cold War. Kingsnorth on the dead liberal order and post-democratic societies. Decisions made in anger will collapse the Western media-theatre state. Letter to Prime Minister of Australia on situation in Eastern Ukraine. Marina Tsvetaeva on poets with and without history.
Flowers of the Mind 20
Descent into post-democratic crisis. John Ionnadis on saving democracy from the pandemic. Canada leaves the democratic nations – an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Australia. Security crisis in Ukraine and the end of the Cold War – who really wants to invade Europe? The Russian Anxiety and our responsibility to refuse it