Category Archives: Repression

Defending the indefensible. A Review of Leon Trotsky’s “Terrorism and Communism”

Introduction:     This short polemic from Trotsky was a reply to Karl Kautsky’s stinging critique of the Russian Revolution. Kautsky believed that the Bolsheviks had disregarded some of the basic tenets of Marxism by violently seizing power. Kautsky was … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on July 29, 2017 by | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Russian revolution 100 years on. Review: E.H. Carr “The Russian Revolution from Lenin to Stalin 1917-1929”

    Introduction:   Carr devoted thirty years of his life writing the fourteen volume, two million words, and the definitive history of Twentieth Century Russia. This is his magnum opus distilled into two hundred pages and it is extraordinary. … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on July 20, 2017 by | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sam Harris’s inexplicable defence of Israel

Introduction:   I agree with a lot that Sam Harris has to say. I find him an erudite and intelligent commentator. I have been listening to his “Waking Up” podcast for some time. I sided with him in the Cenk … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on May 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Review: “Revolutionary Iran. A history of the Islamist Republic” by Michael Axworthy.

Posted on April 19, 2017 by

Axworthy has written a scholarly history of Twentieth Century Iran. He does justice to a country with one of the most complex histories in the world by unearthing painstaking detail on how various internal regimes have functioned down the years. There is … Continue reading →

Posted in Book, Books, Democracy, History, Iran, Iranian revolution, Michael Axworthy, Persia, Repression, Shia Islam, The Shah, theocracy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The burden on beasts

Posted on January 11, 2017 by

  The burden on beasts:   As 2017 begins, it is obvious that the world that George Orwell so accurately described in his 1945 classic “Animal Farm” still exists. Living in a free and democratic Western country, it is easy to … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Farm, China, Democracy, George Orwell, Putin, Repression | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment