The language of K-19

K-19 is being shown on Russian Channel 1 right now. Dubbed. I’ve seen pieces of it before; Harrison Ford adopting a Russian accent and all that. Just fifteen minutes ago or so, I watched Liam Neeson as sub commander being…

Measuring resistance

Suppose for a moment that a “piece of America” had been occupied by an authori… no, a totalitarian regime. Would Americans, on average, have behaved better than the French? It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis comes to mind. And, by…

Other people’s wars

American bloggers find it easy to talk and make jokes about other countries’ wars. Perhaps it’s because Americans haven’t fought a “tragical” war since a long time ago. By a “tragical” war I mean one fought on one’s own land…

Say cheese

Molly Ivins wrote an impassioned column in defense of the French. Turns out she made at least one factual mistake and made a few untenable statements (and her passages on colonialism can, and should be disregarded altogether). However, I concur…

Gut and shoot

All in all, conservatives are shooting themselves in the foot. Especially the anti-multiculturalists. When they are done gutting Eurocentrism, what will be left to rely on? The Anglosphere?

Consumer sentiment revisited

I’m sure the shoppers who decided to stay away from French wine did so in good faith, and in doing so proved themselves good citizens. But as I’ve said, most people don’t have the time and knowledge to understand complex…

That’s progress

There were very few blogs out there when Louise Woodward was convicted and released. Thus the Brit-bashing was limited to discussion forums [it was then that I learned the word “limey”]. With the spread of blogs, anyone can call the…

What empire?

An amazingly delusional text from the same Innocents: The celestial empire, the humanitarian empire (no less!). Need to dig up Zmirack’s essay on patriotism. It’s a masterpiece of sorts.

In the family

Europe’s perceived Anti-Americans is mere spousal pouting. Especially compared with the real Anti-Americanism in the Third World. That should be set in stone; an axiom, a postulate, a dogma.

Flagged

How anyone can think that the display of national flags testifies reliably to the displayers’ patriotism is beyond me. Yet those Innocents Abroad took the flag show at face value.

Is Afghanistan a “quagmire”?

Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit commenting in the Guardian, no less! On the other hand, the often poor quality of commentary in traditional media provides some reassurance: Nicholas von Hoffman was still predicting a “quagmire” even as the Taliban surrendered. He…

Full of wine

An e-mail to Instapundit implies that some Americans have stopped buying French wine in response to you know what. Presumably they’re switching to Chilean and Australian stuff. That’ll save them money, I hope – good for them. But the reason…