Weekly Roundup
· 5 min read
Dear Readers,
We have several articles for you on the Ukraine war, one from Joel Kotkin and Hügo Krüger on the centrality of energy policy, one from Harold James on the ideology of imperialism, one from Iryna Vushko who gives a historical account of her homeland, and Eric Clifford Graf applies the lessons of Tocqueville to the current conflict. Jonathan Kay also speaks to Military College Professor Sean Maloney on the tactical errors made by the Russian army on the podcast.
In other stories, don't miss a sharp analysis provided on ESG regulations in The Problem with the Diversity Dividend, and the highly entertaining essay on Tom Wolfe and the newest craze in art—NFTs.
Until next week,
Claire
Ukraine
The New Great Game
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine will be remembered as one of the great crimes of the 21st century. The ensuing humanitarian crisis has already caused more than two million refugees to flee their homeland. With the imposition of sanctions, policymakers will have to weigh their political options as a
Joel Kotkin and Hügo Krüger
The Pathologies of Imperialism
An earlier version of this article appeared in the German language newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on March 4th, 2022. February 24th, 2022, constituted a shock to the European psyche. The invasion of Ukraine, without any plausible casus belli, the massive use of military force aga…
Harold James
Resistance Is in Our Blood: A Personal History of Ukraine
“Lenin created Ukraine,” declared Putin in one of his speeches on February 23rd, 2022 causing outrage among intellectuals and historians in Ukraine and abroad. Putin is being humble here. He might as well have stated that he, personally, invented Ukraine. As he denies Ukraine’s existence, he embolde…
Iryna Vushko
Vladimir Putin’s Medieval Mindset
In 1338, the story has it, a notorious French exile named Robert of Artois strutted into the London palace of King Edward III, bearing a stuffed heron on a silver platter. “Clear the way, you miserable failures,” he said to the assembled lords. “I have a heron … the most cowardly
Jonathan Kay
Tocqueville and Ukraine: European Union, Freedom, and Responsibility
As Russia pushed into Ukraine, we learned that Germany was still preparing to ship 5,000 helmets to the besieged European country. The US, meanwhile, had already sent $2.5 billion in military aid there since 2014. The contrast between the wills and capabilities of the US and Europe appeared
Eric Clifford Graf
Quillette Podcast #183: Russia’s Surprising Military Blunders in Ukraine: A Strategic Analysis
Royal Military College professor Sean Maloney and Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay discuss the state of the war in Ukraine, and consider what Vladimir Putin will do to salvage his widely denounced invasion.
Quillette
Art and Culture
Against De-Materialization: Tom Wolfe in the Age of NFTs
You cannot lose, you cannot win: the present includes the past and the future. ~Marshall McLuhan I In the summer of 1970, TV-Ontario filmed Tom Wolfe in conversation with Marshall McLuhan on the lawn of McLuhan’s home in Toronto’s Wychwood Park. Towards the end of their amicable chat,
Julia Friedman and David Hawkes
Herbert Marcuse and the Left’s Endless Campaign Against Western ‘Repression’
The Frankfurt School of social theory began about a century ago, in the Weimar Republic. It consisted in the main of a group of rather anti-capitalist, Marxist-light gentlemen who embraced oikophobia (the hatred or dislike of one’s own cultural home), and who were understandably disillusioned by the…
Benedict Beckeld
I Signed Up to Study Journalism. What They Taught Me Was Activism
Even by the hyper-progressive standards of the Canadian education sector, Ryerson University in Toronto has distinguished itself as being unusually energetic in its social justice messaging. Last spring, Indigenous activists destroyed the statue of the university’s namesake, Egerton Ryerson, on the…
Jonathan Bradley
Science
It May Not Be Possible to Achieve Racial Equity in American Scientific Research
“NIH Stands Against Structural Racism in Biomedical Research.” This was the title of a statement released on March 1st, 2021, by Francis S. Collins, who was then the Director of the National Institutes of Health. The statement continued: As a science agency, we know that bringing diverse perspectiv…
Robert J. Morris
Washington Post and NPR Ignore the Rural Backlash Against Renewables
During my three decades as a reporter, I’ve seen plenty of hype and poor news coverage about renewable energy. But two recent pieces—in the Washington Post and National Public Radio, respectively—are particularly egregious. These reports demonstrate, yet again, that some of the biggest media entitie…
Robert Bryce
Economics
The Problem with the Diversity Dividend
The last decade has seen Corporate Social Responsibility metastasize into what has become known, derisively, as “woke capitalism”—a new vision of companies as agents of radical social change. The outward face of this shift has been a torrent of adverts and products laced with political messages. Ben…
William Malcolmson
