- Nationalism, Israel, and Hitler Alberto Mingardi, EconLog
- How Russia became Russia Harish Yagneshwar, Pragati
- Europe’s deep localism and populism Angelo Codevilla, Hoover
- Steve Bannon in Bosnia Krithika Varagur, NY Review of Books
Links
Nightcap
- Why don’t Japanese and Taiwanese militaries talk to each other? Katsuya Yamamoto, National Interest
- The fraud of foreign aid Kenan Malik, Guardian
- What V. S. Naipaul taught me about posturing P. Kishore Saval, American Affairs
- India’s stealth war on liberal democracy Shikha Dalmia, the Week
Nightcap
- The Cause and Mechanisms of American De-Industrialization John Mueller, Law & Liberty
- Against moral crusades Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
- A test with Imran Khan Nitin Pai, Pragati Express
- The De-Industrialization of the U.S.: A String of Enlightening Fallacies Jacques Delacroix, NOL
Nightcap
- Don’t say that to me Stephen Cox, Liberty Unbound
- Misconceptions about religiously radicalized women Chelsea Daymon, War on the Rocks
- Ukrainian autocephaly Bruce Clark, Erasmus
- Why liberalism’s critics fail Deirdre McCloskey, Modern Age
Nightcap
- A new history of Islamic Spain Peter Gordon, Asian Review of Books
- A Palestinian perspective on Labour’s anti-Semitism row Nimer Sultany, Disorder of Things
- The crumbling of French culture Guillaume de Thieulloy, Law & Liberty
- Can Asia and Europe make America’s alliances great again? Tongfi Kim, the Diplomat
Nightcap
- Examining the state of German identity Sebastian Hammelehle, Der Spiegel
- Tadao’s war memory manga Ryan Holmberg, NY Review of Books
- The Buddhist monk who became an apostle for sexual freedom Donald Lopez, Aeon
- Denmark’s most innovative city Simon Willis, 1843
RCH: the Peace of Paris (1783)
My latest at RealClearHistory is up. An excerpt:
The Americans did not like this proposal one bit, and they went around the French and their Spanish allies and negotiated a separate treaty with the British, who were all too happy to give up some land in exchange for sticking a thumb in France’s eye. The French foreign minister at the time of the treaty negotiations, Charles Gravier, Count of Vergennes, bitterly complained that “the English buy peace rather than make it.” London also anticipated a rapprochement between itself and its now-former colonies, and a favorable treaty with the rebels would buy the British some much-needed diplomatic capital down the road. The American diplomats who negotiated such a generous truce were led by Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams.
Please, read the rest.
Nightcap
- ISIS never went away in Iraq Krishnadev Calamur, the Atlantic
- In search of “real” socialism Kristian Niemietz, CapX
- Localism and its trade-offs Jason Sorens, Law & Liberty
- Latin America’s greatest storyteller Thomas Meany, Claremont Review of Books
RCH: 10 rivalries that shaped world history
My weekend column for RealClearHistory, in case you missed it, was fun to write. An excerpt:
4. The Mughals versus the Persians (1600s -1739). The Mughal Empire, an Indian polity that ruled over much of the subcontinent, fought three wars against two Persian dynasties (Safavids and Afsharids) and lost all of them. Much of the fighting was done around the city of Kandahar, in what is now Afghanistan. Kandahar was for a long time an important fortress for empires and dynasties that lorded over both Persia and India. While the Mughals had their pride stung by the losses, they could at least find solace in the fact their realm was the most economically successful on the planet at the time. India and Iran have long been weary regional rivals and sometime allies, but geographic distance and terrain have made outright wars between the two civilizations rare and limited. The rivalry between Iran and India has been a cultural one rather than a military one.
Read the rest (if you haven’t already!).
Nightcap
- Thinking about the Holodomor Flagg Taylor, Law & Liberty
- Neoliberalism is not dead Scott Sumner, EconLog
- Social generativity and complexity Daniel Little, Understanding Society
- We don’t need the UN to regulate baby formula Ryan McMaken, Mises Wire
Nightcap
- Radical republicans and early modern democrats, Dutch style Dirk Alkemade, Age of Revolutions
- Did socialism keep capitalism equal? Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
- John McCain in 1974 Arnold Isaacs, War on the Rocks
- U.S.-Soviet hotline a symbol of Cold War cooperation Rick Brownell, Historiat
Nightcap
- Things I hate about the US constitution Ilya Somin, Volokh Conspiracy
- At the Khmer Rogue tribunal MG Zimeta, London Review of Books
- Reductionism and anti-reductionism about painting Irfan Khawaja, Policy of Truth
- A foreign policy for the Left Samuel Moyn, Modern Age
Nightcap
- The dark side of war propaganda Bradley Anderson, American Conservative
- Is internationalism liberal or imperialist? Arnold Kling, askblog
- Internationalism is federalist, Arnold! Brandon Christensen, NOL
- ISIS and Sykes-Picot Nick Nielsen, The View from Oregon
RCH: death and taxes
I’ve been so busy I forgot about my Tuesday column over at RealClearHistory (I have a Friday column, too). Last week’s column was about the trial and execution of two Italian-born anarchists in Massachusetts:
The anarchism of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was left-wing and violent. Very violent. The two young men were admirers of Luigi Galleani, an Italian anarchist who advocated violence as the best way to achieve a more anarchist world. Sacco and Vanzetti, the executed, were part of an American syndicate dedicated to Galleani’s ideals. This syndicate was responsible for bombings, assassination attempts, printing and distributing bomb-making books, and even mass poisonings in the United States. The Galleanists were so violent that they sat atop a list of the federal government’s most dangerous enemies. On April 15, 1920, an armed robbery at the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Mass., went awry and two men, a guard and an accountant (“paymaster”) were killed by the robbers. Sacco and Vanzetti were accused, convicted, and sentenced to death.
This week’s column focused on Shays’ Rebellion:
The Shaysites, as supporters of Daniel Shays came to be known, eventually grew to thousands of men, and the movement grew confident enough that it planned to seize a federal armory. However, the governor of Massachusetts, James Bowdoin, directed a local militia leader (William Shepard) to protect the armory. The armory, though, was federal property, and the militia was operating under state direction, so the seizure of the armory in the name of protecting it from rebels had the potential to ignite a powder keg of legal ramifications throughout the war-torn eastern seaboard.
Y’all stay sane out there!
Nightcap
- In Japan, ghost stories are not to be scoffed at Christopher Harding, Aeon
- Montesquieu was the ultimate revisionist Henry Clark, Law & Liberty
- Did British merchants cause the Opium War? Jeffrey Chen, Quillette
- The eclipse of Catholic fusionism Kevin Gallagher, American Affairs
Notes On Liberty 