Mikhail Fridman is one of the wealthiest men in Russia and a close associate of Vladimir Putin. He was included in the earliest lists of individuals sanctioned by the West for his complicity in the…Read more…
Review: Georgia – The Home of Wine, by Dato Turashvili
Dato Turashvili is one of Georgia’s best known writers, but unfortunately only a couple of his books are available in English translation. This new book is in both Georgian and English and is a…Read more…
Review: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
This is the third novel by Emily St. John Mandel that I’ve read this month. I’m binge-reading her books in no particular order, starting with the most recent, but that’s also pretty…Read more…
Review: The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel
Having read (and loved) Sea of Tranquility I was surprised to discover the same characters in this earlier book by Emily St. John Mandel. I may be reading the books in the wrong order, but…Read more…
Review: Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel
I love a good time travel story – and I loved this one so much that I finished it in two days. (To be fair, it’s a short book.). The author works with two well-worn…Read more…
From Foxley to Facebook: Thinking the unthinkable about dictators
A few weeks ago Russia indicated that it might designate Facebook as an extremist organisation. To block such a thing occurring, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, clarified its position. It had…Read more…
Review: A World Without Email, by Cal Newport
If only! Productivity expert Cal Newport makes a compelling argument against the way we use email now, and anyone who struggles with overflowing inboxes will learn from what he writes. But he…Read more…
To understand Putin, read Karl Marx
Seventy years ago at the height of the Cold War a book was published in the US entitled The Russian Menace to Europe. It made the case that “the major objective of Russian foreign policy…Read more…
In a divided world, the labour movement is united on Ukraine
Last week, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO), passed a resolution strongly condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine. The resolution was not passed unanimously. The…Read more…
Why banning RT is a bad idea
A few years ago, when I was working on the Bernie Sanders campaign, one of our volunteers came to me with an interesting proposal. It turned out that he worked in London for Russia Today…Read more…
Review: How Civil Wars Start – And How to Stop Them, by Barbara F. Walter
Barbara Walter’s book has a promising beginning. An academic who has been studying civil wars for some time now, she tries to come up with an explanation for why civil wars happen. A lot of…Read more…
DSA needs to learn the lessons of SDS
Sixty years ago, the United States was still in the grip of the McCarthy era. The Attorney General would regularly update his list of “subversive” organisations. Communists and other…Read more…
ITUC: Kick Putin’s union out
According to its website, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) is “a national trade union centre independent of the state, political and business structures.”…Read more…
ITUC: Kick Putin’s union out
According to its website, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) is “a national trade union centre independent of the state, political and business structures.”…Read more…
Review: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, by Avi Loeb
Avi Loeb is the head of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University and is one of the world leaders in his field. He believes that ‘Oumuamua, an object detected in 2017 as it flew through…Read more…
Review: Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, by Avi Loeb
Avi Loeb is the head of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University and is one of the world leaders in his field. He believes that ‘Oumuamua, an object detected in 2017 as it flew through…Read more…
Yes to Nato
There is a saying that generals are always ready to fight the last war. The same may be said of political leaders. The difference is that they are ready to stop the last war, and…Read more…
Yes to Nato
There is a saying that generals are always ready to fight the last war. The same may be said of political leaders. The difference is that they are ready to stop the last war, and…Read more…
Review: Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis
Dick Tregaskis was a legendary American war correspondent who covered the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam. When he was just 26 years old, he accompanied Marines who landed on the island of…Read more…
Review: Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis
Dick Tregaskis was a legendary American war correspondent who covered the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam. When he was just 26 years old, he accompanied Marines who landed on the island of…Read more…