- How Eric Hobsbawm remained a lifelong communist Richard Davenport-Hines, Spectator
- Chris Dillow’s favourite economics papers Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
- The dark individualism of Watchmen Titus Techera, Law & Liberty
- The miracle we all take for granted Marian Tupy, CapX
Links
RCH: MacArthur’s battles
That’s the subject of my weekend column over at RealClearHistory. There’s not a whole lot of information out there about Douglas MacArthur’s battle history, so it’s gotten a lot of attention. I think most people avoid writing about MacArthur because he’s such a polarizing figure. At any rate, here’s an excerpt:
8. Battle of Chosin Reservoir (Nov.-Dec. 1950). Fought on the Korean Peninsula, take a quick moment to reflect on the rapid, violent change that catapulted the United States from regional hegemon in 1914 to world power less than half a century later. And MacArthur served in the military throughout the whole change. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir decisively ended MacArthur’s plans for reuniting Korea under one banner and established the two-country situation of the Korean Peninsula found today. One hundred and twenty thousand Chinese troops pushed 30,000 American, Korean, and British troops out of what is now North Korea and changed the trajectory of the Korean War once and for all. It also led to MacArthur’s political downfall, as his increasingly public calls to attack China’s coastline (with atomic bombs) angered Washington and eventually led Truman to dismiss MacArthur.
Please, read the rest…
Nightcap
- Olive Oatman Ann Turner, 3 Quarks Daily
- Don’t let the rise of Europe steal world history Peter Frankopan, Aeon
- Africa’s forgotten empires David Olusoga, New Statesman
- Colonialism: Myths and Realities Brandon Christensen, NOL
Nightcap
- The ideas of Harold Demsetz, 1930-2019 Thomas Hubbard, VoxEU
- A golden moment in the Golden State? David Schleicher, Niskanen
- Ethiopia’s Tewahedo churches (incredible photos!) Alison Abbott, Nature
- In defense of cultural appropriation Graham Daseler, American Conservative
Nightcap
- Global poverty decline denialism Ronald Bailey, Hit & Run
- Wishful thinking: too much, and too little Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
- Marxism as religion Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
- When the Space Race was a dead heat Rick Brownell, Medium
Nightcap
- Kurds fed up with Erdogan and the PKK Fazel Hawramy, Al-Monitor
- Somalia’s fractious politics Anzalone & Hansen, War on the Rocks
- How to make anti-terrorism a misnomer Michael Koplow, Ottomans & Zionists
- Guess the rain’s down on Titan Caleb Scharf, Life, Unbounded
Nightcap
- James Madison won the shutdown Greg Weiner, Law & Liberty
- A Marxist defense of Venezuela Louis Proyect, Unrepentant Marxist
- Emergent complexity in a multi-planetary ecology Nick Nielsen, The View from Oregon
- Christian martyrs, marriage, and the Middle East Christian Sahner, Aeon
RCH: MacArthur’s rule over Japan
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
- Anthony de Jasay, RIP Alberto Mingardi, EconLog
- A grim portrait of human nature Lou Marinoff, Footnotes to Plato
- The last Englishman Soni Wadhwa, Asian Review of Books
- What can history tell us about the future of international relations? Sørensen & Møller, OUPblog
Nightcap
- China’s foreign fighters problem Mathieu Duchâtel, War on the Rocks
- Your failure of imagination is not my problem Zoe Todd, anthro{dendum}
- Sustainable dystopia: a form of permanent stagnation Nick Nielsen, Grand Strategy Annex
- French is an Indian language Blake Smith, the Wire
Nightcap
- The plight of the political convert Corey Robin, New Yorker
- Fine grain futarchy zoning via Harberger taxes Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias
- What happens to cognitive diversity when everyone is more WEIRD? Kensy Cooperrider, Aeon
- StarCraft is a deep, complicated war strategy game. Google’s AlphaStar AI crushed it. Kelsey Piper, Vox
Nightcap
- The internationalist disposition and US grand strategy Stephen Pampinella, Disorder of Things
- Let’s be blunt: classical liberalism is losing Johnathan Pearce, Samizdata
- On top tax rates Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
- Are recessions about employment? Scott Sumner, Money Illusion
Nightcap
- Was Hayek a One-Worlder? Garreth Bloor, Law & Liberty
- George Washington’s maritime world BJ Armstrong, War on the Rocks
- Cable TV really does matter for political outcomes Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
- Sovietology Sheila Fitzpatrick, London Review of Books
Nightcap
- Don’t believe the myth that this is a nation of Little Englanders Alex Massie, CapX
- The American Greatness narrative: a look under the hood Samuel Goldman, Law & Liberty
- In South Africa, minorities are at risk (even though it’s Not Yet Genocide) Mpiyakhe Dhlamini, Rational Standard
- Military dictatorship in Brazil: was it worth it? Bruno Gonçalves Rosi, NOL
Nightcap
- The marvel of the human dad Anna Machin, Aeon
- No exit? Scott Sumner, EconLog
- Big Water and Latin American borderlands Benjamin Nobbs-Thiessen, H-Borderlands
- The material power of ideas and knowledge Henry Farrell, Crooked Timber
Notes On Liberty 