Quillette (Page 94)

Monkey with a Grenade

“Not even a pig shits where it eats.” So said Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev when attacking Nobel Laureate Boris Pasternak for publishing his masterpiece Dr. Zhivago abroad while still living in Russia. Mao railed against the “running dogs” of capitalism. Stalinist propaganda posters vilified priests as sly geese, while Stalinist

Robert Ginzburg

20 Mar 2022 · 5 min read

Putin’s Russia vs. Pushkin’s Russia

When Paolo Nori’s series of lectures on Dostoevsky at the University of Milano-Bicocca was canceled “to avoid any controversy … during a time of strong tensions” related to the Ukraine invasion, he replied: “I realize what is happening in Ukraine is horrible, and I feel like crying just thinking about

Gary Saul Morson

19 Mar 2022 · 10 min read

Anatomy of a Murder

On New Year’s Eve 2021 news of my killing began to circulate on Twitter. holy shit this is a murder https://t.co/CwsF0sZ9sZ — Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) January 1, 2022 I scrolled through scores of posts before I could stop myself, pausing to read replies and retweets. Some

Jonathan Gottschall

18 Mar 2022 · 10 min read

Weekly Roundup and the Failure of Deterrence

Dear Readers, This week, we continue our coverage of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Don’t miss Brian Stewart on how the West’s deterrence policy went askew, Michael J. Totten on Ukraine's dual Eastern and Western identity, and Dalibor Roháč on how to strategically challenge the Kremlin.

Scott Newman

18 Mar 2022 · 6 min read

I Didn’t Care About Crypto—Until a Fake Canadian ‘Emergency’ Showed Me Why We Need It

A few weeks ago, I visited my new favourite financial institution. It’s a Toronto corner store with a big rusted out air conditioner over the front door, and windows plastered with ads for drumstick ice-cream cones and lottery tickets. Near the back door, nestled under old cardboard boxes full

Jonathan Kay

18 Mar 2022 · 14 min read

A Failure of Deterrence

According to foreign policy “realists,” the tale we are being told about Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine is a fiction. Realists like to be known for their clear-eyed appreciation of the realities of global power, and in their telling, responsibility for the war does not lie chiefly with

Brian Stewart

17 Mar 2022 · 6 min read

The Decline of American Soft Power

With Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine and China continuing to grow as a credible peer competitor to the United States on both economic and military fronts, plenty of ink has been spilt speculating about what America's future looks like. The primary theme of these speculative think

José Niño

17 Mar 2022 · 9 min read

The Ideological Aversion to Harm Reduction

Putting a patient under general anesthesia is a dangerous business. Waking a patient up from anesthesia is an ugly one. After I turn off the gas the patient typically thrashes and writhes like a sinner in Hell. Yet such resistance has never bothered me. I don’t want good and

Ronald W. Dworkin

17 Mar 2022 · 9 min read

The Curious Case of Hungary

Hungary rarely commands global attention. This time, however, will be different.

Joseph Paul Forgas

16 Mar 2022 · 8 min read

Privilege-Checking in a World on Fire

Privilege is a sham mark of opprobrium—those who decry the privilege of others tend to want more of it for themselves. The dissemblance is all the more distasteful given that the detractors of privilege typically possess, comparatively speaking, an abundance of it. One need not be conversant in history

David A. Eisenberg

15 Mar 2022 · 5 min read

Ukraine: On the Fault Line Between East and West

Ukrainian nationalism and its clear expression as part of a larger European identity has burst into the open with the power of a hydrogen bomb.

Michael J. Totten

14 Mar 2022 · 11 min read

Ukraine and the Pro-Putin Right

Reactions to Russia’s war in Ukraine have become a perfect demonstration of the “horseshoe theory,” according to which the extremes of Left and Right must converge. Amid overwhelming international condemnation of Russia and sympathy for the Ukrainians’ courageous resistance, Putin-friendly voices blaming the West, NATO, and particularly the United

Cathy Young

12 Mar 2022 · 12 min read

How the Christian Bible Became Separated Into ‘Old’ and ’New’

There is no firmly established technical term for the Bible in Judaism. The Hebrew scriptures may simply be referred to as “the Bible,” and the term “Jewish Bible” is sometimes used to distinguish it from the Christian Bible. In Hebrew, terms such as miqra (“scripture”) or kitve haqqodesh (“sacred texts”

Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter

12 Mar 2022 · 10 min read

Remind the Kremlin of Its Weakness

From the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, discussions about the war in the West have been permeated by a dangerous tone of complacency and self-congratulation. The Russian military has indeed been exposed as less than effective, and Ukrainian bravery has resonated among the public worldwide

Dalibor Roháč

11 Mar 2022 · 7 min read

Weekly Roundup

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

Claire Lehmann

11 Mar 2022 · 5 min read