The Scholar's Stage

Notes From all Over (14/09/14): China’s Economy, Samurai, and Adam Tooze’s Take on Europe

14 September, 2014Bactria, Climate, Cognition, Demographics, Entangling Alliances, Europa Regina, Geopolitics, History, Japan, Monied Interests, Notes From All Over, The Legislature, The Middle Kingdom, Wealth

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “What Does a “Good” Adjustment Look Like?“ Michael Pettis, China’s Financial Markets (1 September 2014). This essay is long but excellent. It is also the best thing I have read about the Chinese economy in months. Two quotes to give readers the flavor of […]

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What Edward Luttwak Doesn’t Know About Ancient China (Or a Short History of Han-Xiongnu Relations), pt. 2

06 September, 2014Dogs of War, History, Narrative, Steppe and Sown, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

This is Part II of a two part series. We strongly recommend reading Part I before reading another sentence of this post. A modern depiction of Huo Qubing’s cavalry charging a surprised Xiongnu force. Image Source. Edward Luttwak is wrong. The Han did not corrupt, bribe, or culturally weaken the Xiongnu Empire into submission. If […]

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What Edward Luttwak Doesn’t Know About Ancient China (Or a Short History of Han-Xiongnu Relations), pt. 1

04 September, 2014Dogs of War, Entangling Alliances, History, Narrative, Steppe and Sown, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

A Mongolian stamp depicting Maodun, founder of the Xiongnu Empire.Image source. A few weeks ago a friend passed along one of the least correct essays I have ever had the misfortune to read. It was written by Edward Luttwak, secret agent author of classic titles in the field of strategic studies like Coup D’état: […]

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Passages I Highlighted in My Copy of “Red Capitalism”

16 August, 2014Monied Interests, The Middle Kingdom, Wealth

Carl Walter and Fraser Howie’s Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundations of China’s Extraordinary Rise is a hard book to review. It follows the style of the fox more than the hedgehog; with so many useful figures, facts, and insightful asides between its covers it is impossible to reduce the book to a summary of […]

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It is Time to Talk Honestly About the U.S.-Japanese Alliance

10 August, 2014Entangling Alliances, Japan, Military Affairs, The Middle Kingdom

Image source: “The New Cold War: China vs. Japan,” The Diplomat (25 January 2014) Peter Lee, who writes columns for Asia Times Online, International Policy Digest, and Counterpunch, is one of the more astute observers of East Asian affairs I have the pleasure to read. He is also a staunch contrarian whose columns are almost always […]

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There Will Be No Cambodian “Spring”

05 August, 2014Demographics, Electoral Intrigues, Geopolitics, Narrative, Southeast Asia

. Last week Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) brokered a deal that ended the CNRP’s year-long parliamentary boycott. The CNRP disputed the results of last summer’s election (which they lost) and refused to take the 55 seats they won until an ‘independent’ election committee could audit […]

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Quantum Libraries

23 July, 2014Books and Literature, Possessions For All Time

I recently began rereading my copy Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II, the third volume in Burton Watson‘s translation of Sima Qian‘s famous Shiji. I have made it something of a goal to reread at least one portion of Sima Qian’s record every year. As I began this year’s reading my thoughts turned […]

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The Next 40 Years in Twelve Hundred Words

19 July, 2014By The People, Complex Systems, Crazy Stuff That Costs Way Too Much Money, Demographics, Futuristics, Monied Interests, The Middle Kingdom

Info-graphic taken from Peter Turchin, “The Double-Helix of Inequality and Well-Being,” Social Evolution Forum (8 February 2013) Recently in a discussion at a different venue I wrote the following: I am extremely pessimistic about the near term (2015-2035) future of both of the countries I care most about and follow most closely, but very optimistic […]

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A Few Thoughts on Environmental History

06 July, 2014Complex Systems, Ecology, Geography, History, Narrative

“You may have horses…. But remember this: if you have horses everything will be changed for you forever.” -Cheyenne Myth quoted in Pekka Hamalainen, “The Rise and Fall of Plains Indian Horse Cultures,” Journal of American History, vol. 90, no. 3 (December 2003), p.841. “The historian of the early military must first see how a […]

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Notes From All Over (22/06/14): Rise of the West, Island Disputes, & Too Much Stuff About China

22 June, 2014Demographics, Dogs of War, Geography, Geopolitics, History, Military Affairs, Monied Interests, Notes From All Over, Political Theory, Southeast Asia, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom, Wealth

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit.TOP BILLING“The Little Divergence“‘Pseuderoerasmus,’ Pseudoarasmus (12 June 2014) In this blogpost I will argue the following : While very few economic historians now dispute that East Asia had lower living standards than Europe well before 1800, …there is no agreement on whether European economies prior to 1800 were “modern” […]

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