[A. C. Douglas on Tannhäuser]
More Wagner A.C. Douglas comments on the overture to Tannhäuser, which happens to be on my mind these days. Many thanks to A.C.
Winterings in Trans-Scythia
Fragments of a blog
Winterings in Trans-Scythia
Fragments of a blog
Category Global
Liberal democracy: a nasal approach
From a post by a Russian LJ blogger–related to the recent jailing of a Swedish pastor for a sermon condemning homosexuality: The Soviet Union under Stalin embodied a favorite liberal principle, “the freedom of your fist ends at the tip…
Pharmula One
Phil Dunne writes to The Economist from London: Let us create a relationship between athletes and companies, as in Formula One motor racing, that combines the greatest talents with the best innovators… A Dwain Chambers/Glaxo-SmithKline team would compete against a…
Delights of Volleyball
I watched Russia play the US on Thursday in an Olympic volleyball qualifier. What an exquisite sport! What a fusion of team spirit and individual excellence! On the one hand, every player must stick to his spot and responsibilities, and…
More on the Sphinx
In an article on Erik von Kühnelt-Leddihn, a quote from Antoine de Rivarol: Politics is like the Sphinx: It devours all those who cannot solve its riddles. [Added July 18, 2019. Also according to de Rivarol, the same error that…
Delights of identification
At Samizdata, a lovely propaganda t-shirt.
So Trotsky was a “prophetic moralist,” and Mother Teresa a fake
According to Christopher Hitchens, of course (The Old Man). A sage whose morals rested upon one rule: what is good for the world revolution, or the world proletariat, is moral. We’re supposed to forget that Trotsky, along with Lenin and…
Irrationality
I have stumbled upon a comment on some blog explaining the large number of civilians killed in the 1999 NATO attack on Serbia by Serbs’ “irrational behavior,” the fact that they supported Milosevic during the bombings instead of doing away…
All over again
I’ve been sick since Friday night (timing is everything), and when I’m down with the flu, the world around seems strange and unusual. I tried (re)reading the first part of Vekhi (Landmarks or Signposts, 1909–1910), a classic collection of essays…
What libertarianism is not
The following does not, contrary to the author’s contention, apply to libertarianism: But it is a narrow, privatized liberty that is secured. An active and lively interest in public affairs is discouraged as a result. Everything is permitted – except…
In defense of private bigotry
It does happen, more often that you would prefer, that certain truths, or a certain set of truths you have come to acknowledge, get voiced by people of whom you do not think highly, and ‘objectively’ serve the interests of…
Rhyme 3
Desbladet has come up with a Newspaper sonnet, hyphenatedly rhymed. Russian poets have used ‘hyphenated’ rhymes, too, first in jest, later, occasionally, in ostensibly serious verse. LanguageHat reprints another lesser-known poem by E.D.; a discussion ensues; I ask a loaded…