Substack Library
GlossaryThe Outlook — Threading A Needle
October 17, 2023Note to readers—I must get a final version of book #3 to my editor. I am going to write a little less frequently until I get this manuscript off my desk, unless something blows up.
Bond People, Stock People & Reality
October 10, 2023“He asked if he had any money; Don Quixote replied that he did not have a copper blanca, because he never had read in the stories of knights errant that any of them ever carried money. To this, the innkeeper replied that he was deceived, for if this was not written in the histories, it was because it had not seemed necessary to the authors to write down something as obvious and necessary as carrying money and … therefore should be taken as true and beyond dispute that all the knights-errant who fill so many books to overflowing carried well-provisioned purses for whatever might befall them…”. Don Quixote, Cervantes, 1605.
Hatch Battening
October 7, 2023Note to readers: know an experienced analyst interested in this type of work? Send me their name.
Barbarians at the Gate
September 25, 2023“Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is…a natural requirement for realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” – China President Xi.
Pattern Recognition
September 22, 2023“We’re entering an age of acceleration. The models underlying society at every level, which are largely based on a linear model of change, are going to have to be redefined.” Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering, Google.
The Warrior
September 3, 2023Leonid, our first guest on Season #6 of the podcast, is not an easy man to land a conversation with. He is a drone operator on Ukraine’s front lines and, understandably, quite busy. Preventing Russian invaders from killing him and his compatriots takes precedence over talking to me and, via this link, with all of you.
Russia Might Turn Into a Failed State
August 23, 2023As I wrote on June 26, “Typically in Russia the penalty for dissent is death.” That’s how gangster organizations work, be they Soviet, Italian, or Putin-land. Prigozhin sowed and reaped.
Changing Fortunes
August 17, 2023Reminder to readers, on Monday I raise prices. For those already subscribed, thank you, no change in price!
The India Question
July 9, 2023“Chief among the forces affecting political folly is lust for power, named by Tacitus as ‘the most flagrant of all passions.’ Because it can only be satisfied by power over others, government is its favorite field of exercise. Business offers a kind of power, but only to the very successful at the very top, and without the domino and titles and red carpets and motorcycle escorts of public office.”