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AN ECHO OF CONQUEST

The hyper-prolific Robert Conquest began speculating five years ago in his Reflections on a Ravaged Century that shifting global conditions would stir a revival of interest in the Anglosphere as a cultural, economic and strategic entity. John O’Sullivan, former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, writes in the current issue of The New Criterion:

“If the British were now to reorient their policies towards the Anglosphere, as India is doing, that in itself would signify at least the beginnings of cultural self-confidence. As they were developed, moreover, Anglospherist policies would restore some of the openness and opportunities of the former empire in a wider non-imperial setting. National narratives of different English-speaking countries, now rendered meaningless or unspeakable by multicultural attack, would be given a fresh and forward-looking aspect. The Britishness shaped by this new national orientation would be one that incorporated “minorities” not in separate cultural en-claves but as equal contributors to our common island story and culture. It would be a Britishness to which British Muslims could assimilate with pride and a genuine sense of common ownership rather than with the shameful feelings of someone entering a multicultural brothel. Would such a Britishness safeguard us against domestic religion-based terrorism. Not entirely perhaps, but it would reduce support for it among the uncertain and give the majority of all faiths greater fortitude in resisting it. “

Perhaps Conquest was once again ahead of the curve ? If so, he’s still quite far ahead but this is a stirring.

RECOMMENDED READING

From Peter Lavelle, on the potential relationship between American oil majors, President Putin and the development of Russia’s natural gas sector; and secondly,his weekly round-up of Russian affairs experts examine the break-up of the ” Orange Revolution” coalition in Ukraine.

Former House Speaker and influential G.O.P. insider, Newt Gingrich, argues that America’s interests require ” a fundamentally limited, but honest and effective UN. “. IMHO we can manage the first, rarely the second and sometimes the third but never all three at once. Too many states with endemic incompetence and corruption use their slots in the UN bureaucracy to exile their intra-regime rivals, reward idiot relatives and enjoy the leisurely lifestyle of a diplomat in Manhattan. Not to mention the slots that more serious countries fill with professional intelligence agents who hardly can afford to make their official UN duties a priority.

Dr. Dan Nexon of The Duck of Minerva asks ” was effective opposition to the Iraq War impossible?” . My unflattering analysis as to why was roundly ignored in the comments :o)

Havery Sicherman, President of FPRI, examines ” King Fahd’s Saudi Arabia” in American Diplomacy.

Virginia Postrel of Dynamist Blog has a series of posts on the virtues and flaws of think tanks here, here, here, here and here. This outpouring was inspired by Dan Drezner’s post here.

The entire “ connectivism” concept series of posts from Connectivism Blog and the article:

” Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation“

I may have to critique this last one closely in a future post.

That’s it.