Bloody Shovel 4

A while ago I argued that if modern civilization collapses, which is a possibility given the relentless action of the worldwide IQ Shredder that we call "modernity", then humanity will never get a second chance to start industrial civilization ever again. By lack of cheap fuel mostly. We'd be stuck, at best, with a Chinese style "high-level equilibrium trap", basically the middle ages going on forever.

To which many commenters surprised me by saying: good-riddance then. What's so bad about the Ir...

Myanmar opened up to the West, agreed to "democratize", and release Aung San Suu Kyi, in 2011. I blogged about it back then. The rationale between the military junta dissolving itself was that China was eating up the whole economy. 100,000 Chinese have basically colonized downtown Mandalay, so the idea was to play USG against China. Which is a pretty good idea. Kim Jong Un is playing the very same game right now. Duterte in the Philippines kinda is too. This will be basically geopolitics 101 in ...

Says Thrasymachos that he's fascinated with Walter Russel Mead. I must admit to share some of the fascination. It's like watching a train wreck. I can't help admiring the mess, and wondering how each piece of broken steel is entwined to the other. Thinking how on hell did the toilet end up between rows 11 and 12, surprisingly keeping its shape intact.

A good source of reactionary recruits is a sober analysis of recent foreign policy. Of Moldbug's Cathedral, perhaps the most conspicuous part is th...

What pushes Globalisation? Michael Pettis says that Globalisation is caused by inflation. Which is an interesting theory. But I'm not here to talk about economic theory. Let us say in more general terms that Globalisation has two vectors. One is economic; globalisation is pushed by money in search for yield. The other is ideological; globalisation is pushed by a faith in search for converts. Both can work together and add impulse to the process, but they don't always do, and sometimes they work ...

I blogged some time ago how The Economist wouldn't shut up about Myanmar, who recently turned into the Cathedral's best friend. The China-backed military junta suddenly decided that the Chinese were too big to be trusted, and they decided to make peace with USG. So they dismantled the junta, had an election, freed Aung San's daughter, and let George Soros' establish an office in Yangon.

It was a big victory for Hillary Clinton and the recent State Department policy of shifting focus from the Pers...

After writing the last post on Burma's opening, it just came to me why are Western governments always promoting democracy. I mean, democracy is a pretty crappy way of government, particularly in the Third World, where for tons of reasons, historical, cultural, biological even, it never works. Democracy also is generally bad for the economy, and Western governments are ostensibly obsessed by trade and economic growth.

Yet they do promote democracy with a fervor that is almost religious. It makes n...