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TG 1094: Will The Democrats Allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To Run?

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle discuss the impending announcement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he is running for president in 2024, and wonder whether the Democratic Party will give him a fairer shake than it gave Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020.

00:41:47
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TG 1936: Will U.S. Foreign Policy Ever Change?

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle sat down with podcaster Scott Horton to discuss U.S. foreign policy--past, present and future--and to attempt to answer the key question: Is Trump's foreign policy now beyond saving?

01:05:07
TG 1935: Rethinking Stalin, Russia And The Soviet Union

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle sat down for a conversation about Stalin, Russian history and the Soviet Union with eminent historian Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick.

00:42:14
TG 1934: U.K. (Half-Heartedly) Threatens To Recognize Palestinian State

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle discuss U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's threat to recognize a Palestinian state --but only under certain conditions--and wonder what, if any, difference a British recognition would make.

01:32:40

Roundtable: Russia’s Move South

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Renowned historians Ronald Suny, Dominic Lieven, Valentina Izmirlieva, and Thomas de Waal participate in a roundtable discussion titled "Russia's Move South." They explore Russia's centuries-long drive southward - from escaping the infertile northern lands around Moscow to conquering the fertile Black Sea steppes. Dominic Lieven examines Catherine II's decisive victories over the Ottoman Empire that transformed the balance of power. Thomas de Waal contrasts different imperial strategies: American-style colonization in "New Russia" versus brutal conquest in the North Caucasus and co-optation of elites in the Transcaucasus. Valentina Izmirlieva reveals the ironic story of Russian refugees finally reaching Constantinople - not as conquerors but as exiles who transformed Ottoman urban culture. Ronald Suny challenges Cold War narratives about ...

4 hours ago

I asked ChatGPT to explore the relationship between Hayek, the Hanseatic League, Mercantilism, and Tariffs. Here is what it had to say.

The Hanseatic League proves what mercantilists never grasped: prosperity follows trade freedom, not tariff walls.

While feudal Europe stagnated under tolls, tariffs, and dynastic squabbles, the cities of the Hanseatic League flourished. They abolished internal tariffs, secured trade routes, and let merchants—not monarchs—govern commerce. The result? A decentralized, voluntary trading network that birthed not only wealth, but culture, beauty, and civic pride.

Even today, the League’s legacy endures:

Lübeck, the “Queen of the Hanse,” enchants with its Gothic gables and canals.

Hamburg hums with maritime energy and modern elegance.

Bremen charms with its medieval town square and Roland statue, a symbol of civic liberty.

Tallinn, with its intact Hanseatic old town, feels like a time capsule of cobbled streets and merchant houses.

Gdańsk, grand and baroque, ...

https://open.substack.com/pub/tlavagabond/p/big-tech-and-ai-firms-are-winning?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=o786d

🇪🇺⚖️ The European Court of Justice (CJEU) banned migrant deportations!

In a groundbreaking ruling, the CJEU prohibits national government from deporting migrants to their home country or 3rd party 'safe' countries unless national governments follow a complex procedure with criteria set by the European Union.

The criteria for declaring a country 'safe' for deportations that the CJEU wants to be respected means that national governments must look whether or not the person they want to deport can "assert his or her rights effectively" and the information for that must be made available for judicial review meaning that deportation orders will be subject to censure by a judge who can decide to override that order and stop the deportation if the judge considers the country unsafe.

If a EU country would like to deport Arab migrants back to the Middle East, the ...

January 21, 2023
More Leftie Than Thou
"Jacobin" Magazine Celebrates A Strike Against Ol' Blue Eyes

Here at "The Gaggle" we have very little time for the "more Leftie than thou" school of thought--that's the approach to life according to which the only thing that matters is whether you take the right position on every issue under the sun from Abortion to Zelensky. No one in the world meets the exacting standards of this school of thought; any Leftie leader anywhere is always selling out to the bankers and the capitalists. The perfect exemplar of this is the unreadable Jacobin magazine. 

The other day I came across this article from 2021. It's a celebration of trade union power. And not simply trade union power, but the use of trade union power to secure political goals. Of course (and this is always the case with the "more Leftie than thou" crowd), this glorious, never-to-be-forgotten moment on the history of organized labor took place many years ago--in the summer of 1974 to be exact. Yes, almost half a century has gone by since that thrilling moment when the working-class movement of Australia mobilized and prepared to seize the means of production, distribution and exchange. 

Well, not quite. Organized labor went into action against...Ol' Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board, the Voice; yes, Frank Sinatra. Why? What had Sinatra done? Sinatra was certainly very rich, and he owned a variety of properties and businesses. But if the Australian trade union movement were, understandably, searching for the bright, incandescent spark that would finally awaken the working class from its slumber there were surely richer, greedier, more dishonest, more decadent, above all more Australian individuals it could have discovered. Australia was never short of them. Rupert Murdoch immediately springs to mind. Why Sinatra?

 

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