Flowers of the Mind

Flowers of the Mind 15

Elena Shvarts, New Jerusalem Monastery, Patriarch Nikon and the Resurrection of religious life in Russia. A definition of empire. Olga Tokarczuk and the Books of Jacob. Please consider purchasing my collected poems, Gathering Flowers of the Mind, and listening to my podcast, The Burning Archive. Best wishes for renewal in the New Year.

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Podcast #18 – After Kabul, the Task Ahead for Australia

The fall of Kabul has raised questions for Australia about the reliability of its alliance with the United States of America. Will the fall of Kabul and the rise of Eurasia provoke the same questioning of foreign policy by Australia?

history, The Burning Archive Podcast

Podcast #17 – Letter to America: you are not the captain now

The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. America’s defeat in Afghanistan has provoked an imperial crisis. This imperial crisis is not just a geostrategic or diplomatic game. It is a crisis of the ideas driving the empire - American culture, society and politics - its core… Continue reading Podcast #17 – Letter to America: you are not the captain now

history, the real world today

The Looming War of the American Succession

In 1700 Charles II, King of Spain and Emperor presiding over a vast global empire, died without a child and without a clear successor. His death triggered a great war over geostrategic control of the possessions of the declining Spanish Empire by rival dynasties and rival great states. France and Spain were diminished, and the… Continue reading The Looming War of the American Succession

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Podcast #15 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island

The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. America's capitulation in Afghanistan has provoked an humanitarian disaster, an imperial crisis, and a change in the balance of power between great states in Eurasia. The crisis threatens not only American prestige in the world but some of the… Continue reading Podcast #15 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island

history, The Burning Archive Podcast, the real world today

Podcast #14 – Afghanistan and the end of America’s 43 Year War

 I have released a special episode of The Burning Archive podcast on the situation in Afghanistan. It is available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this special episode, The Burning Archive makes some fast history, and reflects on the meaning of the capitulation of the American Empire in Afghanistan. There are eight quick takes… Continue reading Podcast #14 – Afghanistan and the end of America’s 43 Year War

history, the real world today, Uncategorized

The World Island vs The Atlantic

This year, 2021, may be remembered as a pivot year in world history. Not because of the pandemic. Not only because of the protracted crisis of the American republic. But because of the changed balance of power in international relations brought about by the decrepitude of the American Atlanticist Alliance and the strengthening of the… Continue reading The World Island vs The Atlantic

history, the real world today, Uncategorized

The fall of the American Empire’s Potemkin Province

Thus , in a few blitzkrieg weeks, after the Americans declared they would "draw down their civilian footprint" to meet a publicity deadline of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban have exposed American power and control in Afghanistan as a projection of illusion, a Potemkin Province of an anxious empire in decline.

history, the real world today

A multi-polar world

Originally posted just over three years ago as a reflection on 2017, a difficult year, this post seems more germane than ever. A multipolar-world (Originally posted December 2017) I was asked the other day in conversation with a friend, what was the best thing about this year? She had earlier said the best thing was… Continue reading A multi-polar world

history, the real world today

America’s Coming Century of Humiliation… begins

A tragic sense of history does not limit the depth of the fall of the mighty and flawed, nor does it pretend that prevailing orders degrade in a slow, controlled and managed decline. Collapse of political orders, institutions, empires and cultures as often comes quickly, almost suddenly, and rarely with expert forecasts pre-loaded. So it… Continue reading America’s Coming Century of Humiliation… begins

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The Time of Troubles to come in America

“There always is this fallacious belief: ‘It would not be thesame here; here such things are impossible.’ Alas, all the evilof the twentieth century is possible everywhere on earth.”Aleksander Solzhenitsyn The events of the 2020 USA election confirm Solzhenitsyn's insight. America stands on the brink of collapsing into an oligarchy. The Newspeakers of democracy have… Continue reading The Time of Troubles to come in America

history, the real world today

K.T. McFarland’s Revolution in Tamerlane’s Shadow

Over the last week I have read the K.T. (Kathleen Troia) McFarland's Revolution: Trump, Washington and 'We the People' (2020). I was led to this book by the remarkable case of injustice perpetrated on General Michael Flynn. K.T. McFarland was Michael Flynn's deputy, Deputy National Security Adviser in the first months of Trump's presidency, and… Continue reading K.T. McFarland’s Revolution in Tamerlane’s Shadow

history, the real world today

An open letter to America

To the citizens, office-holders and advocates of the United States of America, Your republic is breaking. Yet your empire holds on. And the conceit of manifest destiny as the primal democracy, the greatest country on earth, and the envy of the world collapses. Indeed, the stubborn protagonists of your empire - whether John Bolton or… Continue reading An open letter to America

history, the real world today

The unravelling of empires

US and western leaders have to find better ways to satisfy their people’s demands. It looks, however, as though the UK still lacks a clear idea of how it is going to function after Brexit, the eurozone remains fragile, and some of the people Mr Trump plans to appoint, as well as Republicans in Congress,… Continue reading The unravelling of empires