Author: Brandon Christensen

Afternoon Tea: Circle of Nymphs, Morning (1857)

Brandon Christensen Culture , , , ,

From Camille Corot, a French painter from the 19th century:

nol art corot circle of nymphs morning 1857
Click here to zoom

I love mornings.

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. Global poverty decline denialism Ronald Bailey, Hit & Run
  2. Wishful thinking: too much, and too little Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
  3. Marxism as religion Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
  4. When the Space Race was a dead heat Rick Brownell, Medium

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. Kurds fed up with Erdogan and the PKK Fazel Hawramy, Al-Monitor
  2. Somalia’s fractious politics Anzalone & Hansen, War on the Rocks
  3. How to make anti-terrorism a misnomer Michael Koplow, Ottomans & Zionists
  4. Guess the rain’s down on Titan Caleb Scharf, Life, Unbounded

Afternoon Tea: Death of Sardanapalus (1827)

Brandon Christensen Culture , , , ,

Delacroix requested Delacroix so, here you go:

nol art delacroix death of sardanapalus 1827
Click here to zoom

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. James Madison won the shutdown Greg Weiner, Law & Liberty
  2. A Marxist defense of Venezuela Louis Proyect, Unrepentant Marxist
  3. Emergent complexity in a multi-planetary ecology Nick Nielsen, The View from Oregon
  4. Christian martyrs, marriage, and the Middle East Christian Sahner, Aeon

RCH: MacArthur’s rule over Japan

Brandon Christensen History, Links , , , , , , ,

That’s the subject of my latest over at RealClearHistory. An excerpt:

The relative graciousness of the American occupation of Japan led to the most peaceful and prosperous era in Japanese history. MacArthur’s governing strategy for a conquered people was so successful that it was aped by Washington in 2001 and 2003 when the United States invaded and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. What went wrong? You could write a dissertation trying to answer that question, but the most straightforward answer is that Iraq and Afghanistan were not conquered. The governments of Kabul and Baghdad never officially surrendered to Washington, and they never really had the capacity to wage war the way that Japan was able to wage war on the United States.

As always, I appreciate the clicks…

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. Anthony de Jasay, RIP Alberto Mingardi, EconLog
  2. A grim portrait of human nature Lou Marinoff, Footnotes to Plato
  3. The last Englishman Soni Wadhwa, Asian Review of Books
  4. What can history tell us about the future of international relations? Sørensen & Møller, OUPblog

Afternoon Tea: No Kakinomoto Hitomaro (1835)

Brandon Christensen Culture , , ,

From Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai:

nol art hokusai no kakinomoto hitomaro 1835
Click here to zoom

This one can be found at the Guimet Museum in Paris, in case you’re ever there…

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. China’s foreign fighters problem Mathieu Duchâtel, War on the Rocks
  2. Your failure of imagination is not my problem Zoe Todd, anthro{dendum}
  3. Sustainable dystopia: a form of permanent stagnation Nick Nielsen, Grand Strategy Annex
  4. French is an Indian language Blake Smith, the Wire

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. The plight of the political convert Corey Robin, New Yorker
  2. Fine grain futarchy zoning via Harberger taxes Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias
  3. What happens to cognitive diversity when everyone is more WEIRD? Kensy Cooperrider, Aeon
  4. StarCraft is a deep, complicated war strategy game. Google’s AlphaStar AI crushed it. Kelsey Piper, Vox

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. The internationalist disposition and US grand strategy Stephen Pampinella, Disorder of Things
  2. Let’s be blunt: classical liberalism is losing Johnathan Pearce, Samizdata
  3. On top tax rates Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
  4. Are recessions about employment? Scott Sumner, Money Illusion

Afternoon Tea: Portrait of pianist and professor of Saint Petersburg Conservatory Sophie Menter (1887)

Brandon Christensen Culture , , , , ,

From Ilya Repin, a painter from the Russian Empire:

nol art repin sophie menter 1887
Click here to zoom

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. Was Hayek a One-Worlder? Garreth Bloor, Law & Liberty
  2. George Washington’s maritime world BJ Armstrong, War on the Rocks
  3. Cable TV really does matter for political outcomes Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
  4. Sovietology Sheila Fitzpatrick, London Review of Books

Freire’s book (in Portuguese) is up and it’s open access; Van de Haar’s glowing profile

Brandon Christensen Current Events , , , , , , , ,

Lucas had a busy, productive 2018 elsewhere, but he assures me that 2019 will be the year he gets back on track for blogging. I’ve uploaded his 2013 book on the rise of the state in the early modern period (“Do Império ao Estado: Morfologias do sistema internacional”) to the side bar, or you can access the whole thing here (pdf).

I don’t know about you, but I am really looking forward to Dr Freire’s thoughts!

Elsewhere, Garreth Bloor has paid a glowing tribute to Edwin’s lifelong work on international relations over at Law & Liberty. The context is in a review of Yoram Hazony’s recent book on nationalism, and I don’t actually agree with much of what Bloor says, but it’s really cool to see Edwin’s important work getting the attention it deserves.

Nightcap

Brandon Christensen Links , , ,
  1. Don’t believe the myth that this is a nation of Little Englanders Alex Massie, CapX
  2. The American Greatness narrative: a look under the hood Samuel Goldman, Law & Liberty
  3. In South Africa, minorities are at risk (even though it’s Not Yet Genocide) Mpiyakhe Dhlamini, Rational Standard
  4. Military dictatorship in Brazil: was it worth it? Bruno Gonçalves Rosi, NOL