This episode of The Burning Archive podcast features a special guest - young lawyer, Freya Rich, who speaks to the Burning Archive about the questions and topics from history and culture her generation would like to know more about; what from the past is not past for her; and what might become A Canon of her Own
history
Podcast #19 – Vaclav Havel’s Letter to a Locked Down World
This episode of The Burning Archive podcast explores how Havel's writing, ideas and the model of his way of living in truth remains meaningful to us today. This episode sets out the main events of Havel's life and the ideas of his political essays. It looks in depth at the "Letter to Gustav Husak" (1975), and its uncanny evocation of aspects of our lives today in a locked down world.
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?
Letter from Melbourne: mirror to the post-democratic world
Things are very serious here in Australia. There is a mental health crisis. We have endured a state of emergency since March 2020. Normal rules of government decision making have not applied. We have pursued a medical utopia of COVID Zero at stunning cost. It is really something that should never happen again, and hopefully, at the right time in the right way by the right people, will be deeply investigated and reflected on.
Report from a besieged city (Melbourne)
And again, now in September, I repost this act of refusal to submit to despair. ***** Alas three months later, another report from the besieged city of Melbourne - locked down, its people "fleeing the Qin." **** Today 12 February, Melbourne and all the citizens of Victoria have been thrown, with eleven hours notice, again … Continue reading Report from a besieged city (Melbourne)
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.
Podcast #12 – Towards the Society of Islands
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this episode of The Burning Archive, I continue my history of our times, and the theme of increasing social fragmentation. If there is more distance between the elites and ordinary people - the 1 % vs the 99 … Continue reading Podcast #12 – Towards the Society of Islands
Podcast #11 – Social progress and social fragmentation
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this episode of The Burning Archive, Jeff Rich explores the fourth large theme of the history of our times, that is social fragmentation. Life is better in so many dramatic ways. We are richer, older, healthier, and better … Continue reading Podcast #11 – Social progress and social fragmentation
The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. When faced with cultural decay and ruined institutions, what is a podcaster to do? In this episode, Jeff Rich turns for hope to the traditions of the Eastern European dissidents of 1960-90 Eastern Europe. … Continue reading The Burning Archive Podcast #10 – The Parallel Polis and the Power of the Powerless
Burning Archive Podcast #7 – The ordinary virtues of governing well
I have posted episode 7 of The Burning Archive Podcast – the ordinary virtues of governing well. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. In this episode I discuss a possible antidote to political decay; building a strong culture rooted in the ordinary virtues of governing well. Based on traditions of virtue ethics scattered from Confucius … Continue reading Burning Archive Podcast #7 – The ordinary virtues of governing well
Burning Archive Podcast #6 – The true history of the bureaucracy gang
I have posted episode 6 of The Burning Archive Podcast, - the true history of the bureaucracy gang. You can listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple and other platforms. In this episode I discuss the history of the bureaucracy in the UK, USA and Germany, and its relationship to political decay. And I ask, … Continue reading Burning Archive Podcast #6 – The true history of the bureaucracy gang
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
