The Agonist - Histories

Sooner or Later Your Living Standards Will Fall

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:29:29 -0700

Yes, dear reader, that means you. No, don't shake your head and say, "I'm insulated." You are not. Here's the story of how I was forced by circumstances beyond my control and equally by my own stupid mistakes to cut my standard of living in half.

When I left Morgan Stanley I was living pretty well, traveling frequently, making good money and living in a bachelor's dream pad. I drove a Mercedes (oh, what a mistake that was!), ate out whenever I wanted, pretty much where ever I wanted to and wore Armani suits and French-cuff shirts. Plus, I had enough income to support the credit cards I was charging ever more of my consumption on. And I hadn't an inkling of the mess that was soon to befall me.

More of my story after the jump

Seven Years Ago Today

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:50:14 -0700

Seven years ago today 2,975 of our fellow citizens perished in a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania.

Let us not forget them.

Let us not forget them, as we remember also that their sacrifice remains unavenged, that bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Zawahiri remain at large.

Let us not forget them, as we remember also that their sacrifice was used to launch a war of choice against another people who had nothing to do with that day seven years ago.

And let us not forget them, as we remember the carnage that has been wrought and the lives that have been lost and devastated in Iraq by our policy makers, media elite and all others who enabled the catastrophe ongoing in Iraq.

Let us not forget any of the lives lost as a result of that day, as we remember those who perished on that day.

Let us remember it all, the full, unvarnished truth of that day as we look in the mirror and see what we have become.

Let us not forget what we once were and can never be again.

The Settler Colony Theory

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:58:34 -0700

Why do we find social democracies in many European countries, while the entire political spectrum in the US is significantly further to the right?

The answer we usually hear is that the experience of World War II left Europe so devastated that the experience of rebuilding lead to a greater sense of "we're all in this together." I think that's true. A friend adds the argument that fascism, with its appeal to national solidarity, also set the stage for a mentality that says "all Germans deserve a certain standard of living" or "all British deserve health care, decent infrastructure, well-funded education, etc" - because let's not forget that France, Britain, Spain and even Canada had serious fascist movements in the interwar period, not just Germany and Italy. In the aftermath of fascism that sense of solidarity continued, and became transformed into a broader civic ethic. I think that's a factor as well.

Fun Size Countries: The Insane Histories of the World's 6 Tiniest Nations

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:34:15 -0700

The language is a bit ripe at this website, kiddies, but the countries are real (well, sort of) and you can check 'em out at cracked.com. I'm partial to the "Awerican Empire" myself, but I'm a wee bit hesitant about the national religion. Silinism, also known as the Worship of the Great Penquin, which suggests certain limitations.

The Island of Sark has a much lengthier and considerably more tempestuous history Hopefully things have settled down now following the recent invasion which was, thankfully thwarted. Wiki has the details...

Islamism amid the Great Powers

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:43:39 -0700

History abounds with paradox. Some paradoxes are just sources of intriguing debate, but others are ominous. One of the latter is developing in Central Asia. There, amid expansive steppes and imposing mountains, numerous militant Islamist groups are planning, training, and coalescing. The paradox lies in that they are thriving amid the three great powers they fight – the US, Russia, and China.

More after the jump

Black History: Montgomery Bus Boycott

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:47 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Black History: Loving vs. Virginia

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:57:19 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Black History: Brown vs. Board of Education

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:36:45 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Black History: The Later Klans

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:52:17 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Black History: The Tuskegee Airmen

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:15:55 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Iran-Contra Cliff's Notes on hostage crises, PSYOPS, parallel intel and GOP perception management, see 1991's "October Surprise"

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:37:37 -0700

There is another category of offenses, described by the French poet André Chenier as "les crimes puissants qui font trembler les lois," crimes so great that they make the laws themselves tremble. We know what to do with someone caught misappropriating funds, but when confronted with evidence of a systematic attempt to undermine the political system itself, we recoil in a general failure of imagination and nerve.

-- Gary Sick, October Surprise (p 226)

******

I have never understood why "normal" people are supposed to believe that the Iranians let the hostages go during Reagan's inauguration because he intimidated them, but then Reagan quickly pivoted to sell them all those weapons in the 1982-1986 period traditionally known as "Iran Contra". [Crossposted @ hongpong.com]

Oldest New Testament Bible goes cyber

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:35:02 -0700

July 22

Reuters - More than 1,600 years after it was written in Greek, one of the oldest copies of the Bible will become globally accessible online for the first time this week.From Thursday, sections of the Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest complete New Testament, will be available on the Internet, said the University of Leipzig, one of the four curators of the ancient text worldwide.

High resolution images of the Gospel of Mark, several Old Testament books, and notes on the work made over centuries will appear on www.codex-sinaiticus.net as a first step towards publishing the entire manuscript online by next July.Ulrich Johannes Schneider, director of Leipzig University Library, which holds part of the manuscript, said the publication of the Codex online would allow anyone to study a work of "fundamental" importance to Christians.

Italian Nudist Girls Knock Out Germany’s Tiger Tank Depot!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:22:58 -0700

In the twenty or so years after the end of World War Two, popular culture abounded with adulation of the military and glorification of war. Movies and books with WW2 themes came out in large numbers and celebrated the Great Event from the lowly private to the most august general, and mythologized events from Anzio to Okinawa. Most of it, of course, was neither realistic nor edifying. It was delusional and militaristic, but boys loved it. They tend to love such things. Susceptibility to delusions about war is as innate to boys as snips and snails and puppy dog tails. It’s probably in our genes, and it would take centuries of careful breeding to rid us of it.

Feeling a little litigious?

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:10:34 -0700

Then may I recommend the fascinating 5 part series from the Times of London. "The legal cases that changed Britain"
One hundred cases that have most shaped modern British law — including scans of the original Times law reports coupled with quite good online optical recognition.

Part 1, 1785 - 1869
Part 2, 1870 - 1916
Part 3, 1917 - 1954
Part 4, 1955 - 1971

War As A Sacrificial Ritual

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:15:26 -0700

War As a Sacrifical Ritual by Lloyd deMause

EXCERPT

REALIST THEORIES OF WAR

Historians and political scientists agree that war is a realistic, rational, utilitarian activity. This is termed "the Realist paradigm that states are rational actors, carefully calculating costs of alternative courses of action and seeking to maximize their expected utility." Rationality is simply assumed by Realists: "War is a rational process" and "leaders are rational expected-utility maximizers [who] never choose an action that is expected to produce less value-or utility-than some alternative policy." Even when they admit that "aggression seldom succeeds; aggressor states usually are contained or destroyed," this is only because "misperceptions are common." Misperceptions are viewed as having no cause. They are unmotivated. Irrational, self-destructive motives are unthinkable. That would be "doing psychology" - a forbidden activity.