Archive for July 2011
Entering a Systemic Revolution
The collapse of the United States as the global hegemon constitutes a “systemic revolution” that will transform both the U.S.and the rest of the globe. Such a revolution is different from “normal” political revolutions, which entail an overthrow of the government. A systemic revolution ushers in even broader and more enduring changes in economy, society and…
Read MoreClass Rules: Utopia On Hold
“Nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history” –Walter Benjamin History and Memoryistory is written by the victors. They define what counts as history, whatis remembered and what is forgotten, what is important and what is notand, most crucially, what is usable for informing the relationship of thepresent with the future.…
Read MoreThe Swan Song of the Literary Missionary: Review of John le Carre’s The Mission Song
While not the best of John le Carré’s novels, The Mission Song is certainly far ahead of his previous symbolic disaster, Absolute Friends, and once again proves that he is the master of the post-Cold War political thriller and factually way ahead of the pack. Shadow of the Zebra-crossing The story is narrated by one…
Read MoreHearing Hannah: Listening to German-Language Recordings of Hannah Arendt from the 1950s and 60s
Vorwort I did not go looking for Arendt’s voice. An unexpected gift from Germany, from the woman who was my intellectual mentor in Gymnasium, brought five CDs of interviews, award speeches and lectures, brought Hannah Arendt’s voice across the ocean and across more than five decades into my living room last summer. It was a…
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