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The Mysteries Of The Russian Mindset World

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Veteran Spiegel correspondent reflects on the Russian national character. “Putin initially thought like a Westerner, but ultimately realized why every Russian ruler struggles to lead this nation: Because its inhabitants, in accordance with an unshakable tradition, freely delegate all their power to a single person, and then wait for that power to take care of them, without doing anything themselves. Liberalism has no chance in Russia. The people won’t allow it” (3,030 words)

Essentially Bohemian People

Louis Allday | London Review Of Books | 21st August 2017

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Extracts from a confidential profile of Fidel Castro written in 1963 by the outgoing British Ambassador to Cuba. “However much you hear about the Grand Canyon it still turns out to be much bigger than you expected. So it is with Castro – and I do not mean merely his physique. He is in fact a good six feet four inches and he must weigh sixteen stone. He would have got a good Second rather than a First Class at Oxbridge, but he can think clearly and quickly and can argue with a lawyer’s shrewdness” (970 words)

Why Is Westeros Still Poor? Money

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“Technological and economic conditions in Westeros seem to have been stuck in the same place for a very long time. Bran the Builder constructed Winterfell and the Wall about 8,000 years ago, suggesting the same basic medieval technologies existed back then. If anything, it’s unclear that the wall could be built today, suggesting possible decline. So given they’ve had so much time, why hasn’t Westeros had an industrial revolution and emerged from medieval poverty?” (1,120 words)

Writing worth reading

The Mysteries Of The Russian Mindset World

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Essentially Bohemian People

Why Is Westeros Still Poor? Money

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