it’s hard for the human brain to encounter evil in ludicrous form, and still recognise it as such. That’s how it creeps up on you. That’s why you ask how such crimes were allowed to happen in the past. The answer is that it rarely arrives with the intent and identifying hallmarks of a villain.… Read More Trump’s presidency is what evil looks like: absurd, frightening, cruel
Some of today’s far right is openly violent and undemocratic – and even in its less extreme forms, far-right populism is a profound threat. But that doesn’t mean it is just a re-run of history By Daniel Trilling Politics, before it is about anything else, is about emotion. We all base our judgments about the world… Read More The impossible promise: are we witnessing the return of fascism?
This sort of cynical piracy has begun to thrive in today’s AI Wild West, a territory largely devoid of government regulations. Though Amazon may take down the offending volumes once it is informed by aggrieved authors like Cline and myself, it faces no consequence for its behavior. The most astonishingly productive historian in recent times… Read More Who Is Blake Whiting?
By Maria Popova “Day by day I am approaching the goal which I apprehend but cannot describe,” Ludwig van Beethoven (December 16, 1770–March 26, 1827) wrote to his boyhood friend, rallying his own resilience as he began losing his hearing. A year later, shortly after completing his Second Symphony, he sent his brothers a stunning letter about the joy of suffering… Read More Trial, Triumph, and the Art of the Possible: The Remarkable Story Behind Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’
There is only person who is really battling for the soul of the nation. He chose the name Leo for a reason: Saint Leo stood up for laborers, and this Leo has shown a similar instinct, from his missionary work in Peru to his criticisms of immigration crackdowns Pope says ‘enough of war’ and decries ‘delusion… Read More The Real American War Is Between Trump and This Holy Warrior / Pope says ‘enough of war’ and decries ‘delusion of omnipotence’ at peace vigil
Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) I came into the cities in a time of disorderAs hunger reigned.I came among men in a time of turmoilAnd I rose up with them.And so passedThe time given to me on earth. I ate my food between slaughters.I lay down to sleep among murderers.I tended to love with abandon.I looked upon… Read More Bertold Brecht: To Posterity (1938) / Pablo Neruda: Nuevo Canto de Amor a Stalingrado (1942) / Victory: Ilya Ehrenburg, 9 May 1945
Bhagat Ram Talwar, one of the greatest spies of the Second World War SILVER: The spy who fooled the Nazis by Mihir Bose Navtej Sarna Spies, by definition, live in a world of grey, but the life of Bhagat Ram Talwar, alias Silver, seems to have been exceptionally shadowy. Born a Hindu Pathan in the… Read More An unlikely Prince of Spies
You can own the roof, but the guy in the basement has the shotgun, and the house is made of solid rock. by Mark A. Shryock – Copyright © Mark A. Shryock The history of modern warfare is defined by a persistent, expensive, and often fatal misunderstanding: the belief that controlling the sky is equivalent… Read More Vietnam, Afghanistan and the 2026 Iran meat grinder: Why owning the sky is a death trap – and how this war will end an Empire
William Pfaf (June 2013) Reviewed: The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Vladimir Tismaneanu The twentieth century undoubtedly will mainly be remembered for producing totalitarian politics. Italian Fascism was the first to give this name to the phenomenon, even though Mussolini’s movement was the least “total” of the… Read More Pure, Purifying, and Evil
The recent bulldozing of the Gaza War Cemetery has disturbed the final resting place of thousands of soldiers, including those from the British Indian Army. While Australia has expressed outrage, the silence from Southasian governments raises urgent questions about how we value our shared historical memory. By Inderjeet Parmar / Sapan News The Gaza War Cemetery in al-Tuffah,… Read More Desecrating history: Southasia’s silence as Gaza war graves are bulldozed
After the truth-shower 