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The Gullibility of Cynicism
Under these conditions, you could make people believe the most fantastic lies one day, and if the next day they were presented with irrefutable proof that their leaders had lied, they would take refuge...
View ArticleSo, what do we think about Syria?
Some questions: Was there a chemical attack? If so, who was the perpetrator? More to the point, do we care? Yes, I know there is a treaty and all that but is chemicalling someone so much worse than...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
There has been, as we know, much fuss over how Russian Twitter ‘bots backed both Brexit and Donald Trump. This is an interference with our democracy which just cannot be lived with, something must be...
View ArticleOn This Day
On 3 September 1939 the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. But we are in no danger of forgetting that. When did you last think about Beslan?
View Article“I’ve long said that capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity...
A quote attributed to USAF Colonel Frank Borman, the oldest living astronaut, businessman, one of the first men to orbit the Moon. He sounds like a splendid chap. This ‘b’ word is of course, is...
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Zaha Hadid Architects thrives
One of the more significant libertarians on Planet Earth just now is Patrik Schumacher, whom I have mentioned here before, several times. Until recently Schumacher was the Number Two at Zaha Hadid...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
“But though feted and exploited by questionable allies, Solzhenitsyn should be remembered for his role as a truth-teller. He risked his all to drive a stake through the heart of Soviet communism and...
View ArticleSamizdata retort of the day
Mr Putin said people living in Donetsk and Luhansk who considered themselves Russian were entitled to Russian passports. On Saturday, he said: “We’re considering providing a simplified procedure [of...
View ArticleJohn Lewis Gaddis on good versus evil in the Cold War
One of the particular pleasures of twenty-first century life is that it is now easy to purchase interesting books which have been around for quite a while, cheaply and easily rather than expensively...
View ArticleKatie Jones is the face of the future
“That LinkedIn connection could be a spy using a fake, AI-generated face”, warns Raphael Satter of the Associated Press in the Tampa Bay Times. LONDON — Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into the...
View ArticleWhy is Russia trying to influence other countries’ elections by means of...
“Nick Clegg denies misuse of Facebook influenced Brexit vote”, reports the Guardian. Umm, okay. A lot of people are saying “Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?”. Sir Nick Clegg, for those readers who...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
Are they really such idiots to poison you in a place where suspicions point only at them? It’s a good question. For now I can say one thing with certainty: the people in power in Russia are really...
View ArticleWhat if the Berlin Wall hadn’t come down?
I have always been interested in the What If? question that consists of asking how the world would have been different had the Berlin Wall not fallen and had the USSR just blundered onwards...
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Epic trolling by the Czechs!
Prague renames square in front of Russian embassy after slain Putin critic Boris Nemtsov Ok, that is pretty damn good. But this… The Russian embassy in Prague did not respond to a request for comment,...
View ArticleWhat is so bad about Russian “interference” with UK referendums anyway?
“49% of voters believe Kremlin interfered in Brexit referendum”, reports the Guardian. Almost half the British public believes the Russian government interfered in the EU referendum and last year’s...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
“Western governments may have strong words for the Russian president, but we’ve been here before. Every time a Russian opposition figure is assassinated, from journalist Anna Politkovskaya to MI6...
View Article“We are reducing its distribution on our platform”
The New York Post has a big story. Very big. Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad By Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge Hunter Biden introduced his...
View ArticleSo, Mr Dorsey and Mr Zuckerberg, how are your fact checkers getting on with...
“When will they be reporting? Surely not after the election?” “What have they found out so far?” You know you could check on the veracity of the emails by asking other recipients – have you done that?”...
View ArticleThe anti-Watergate
Did you ever watch All The President’s Men? It was a true story about two heroic journalists doggedly tracking down and bringing to light a scandal at the heart of American politics. “The list is...
View ArticleRussian internet is ablaze
A couple days ago, Russian internet caught on fire, and it is still ablaze. Although Alexei Navalny was already under arrest, instantly judged by the ad-hoc court assembled right in the police...
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