November 2021
Solving the Alienation
As I wrote in my last column, Fiona Hill, our former Russia expert who served in the Obama and Trump administrations, has provided a unique examination of comparable popular discontent in the US, England, and Russia. By comparing them, she has focused on a common cause: societal disruption so rapid and severe that large sectors of society are left feeling abandoned. When people are feeling abandoned by their governments, they are vulnerable to populist scoundrels who promise them leaders more...
American Populism
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite" or "the establishment."---Wikipedia. This defines the alienation of "ordinary" people who feel neglected and scorned by the educated "elites" who rule them.
People who feel displaced (jobs and industries lost), resent their government. But even college educated people who find that their educations are not producing careers for them fe more...
Steve Bannon: Anarchist Operative
Last week, this column explored Vladimir Putin?s role in destabilizing democracies. We have our own home-grown anarchist: Steve Bannon, who has gleefully fomented chaos both here and in Europe.
Anarchy cannot get far because its very structure relies on no rules: selfishness does not organize. When the goal is to destroy governments, there is nothing to replace one order with another. Devoted anarchists have always fantasized about a brave new world that will emerge after more...
Vladimir Putin Again
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Cold War ended with the United States the winner. Pundits worried about the world with just one superpower, but for a time our model of representative government and free market economics inspired much of the world to give it a try.
Russia emerged naked from its collapse, most of its former captive empire declaring independence. But it didn?t take long for the Russians to re-take its Central Asian colonies by placing Soviet-trained authoritaria more...
Russia emerged naked from its collapse, most of its former captive empire declaring independence. But it didn?t take long for the Russians to re-take its Central Asian colonies by placing Soviet-trained authoritaria more...