The content outlines China’s historical journey from the late Ming dynasty to the modern era under President Xi Jinping. It emphasizes key events such as the Qing dynasty, opium wars, rise of communism, and China’s transformation into a global superpower. The book serves as an accessible introduction to understanding China’s contemporary significance.
Chairman Mao remains a polarizing historical figure and key communist thinker alongside Marx and Lenin. The ‘Little Red Book’ is a widely influential text that shaped leftist movements globally, emphasizing the importance of the masses in history. Despite Mao’s controversial legacy, the book’s simple yet profound ideas continue to provoke thought and discussion.
View More Review: Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung “Little Red Book”
The Chatham House meeting, in collaboration with SNF Agora Institute, discussed the pressures facing democracy today amid rising authoritarianism and declining public confidence. Key topics included youth engagement, technological impact on democratic practices, and the need for practical reforms, particularly in the MENA region. The conversation highlighted the importance of resilience, collective action, and the voices of young people in shaping a more effective democracy.
View More Chatham House: Democratic resilience in a disrupted world
Mike Pence shared insights on U.S. foreign policy at Chatham House, emphasizing the importance of strong transatlantic ties amid rising global tensions with Russia and China. He highlighted the need for America to lead while addressing issues like public debt and immigration reform. Pence asserted that strong alliances and values are crucial for global stability.
View More Chatham House: Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, speaks at Chatham House
Drawing on material from the Connecting Lives strand, explain how qualitative and quantitative types of evidence can be used to support the claim that cities produce inequality. Inequality in cities exists for a variety of interconnected reasons—economic, historical, political, and social. ‘The wealthiest 10% of households had household wealth of £1,200,500…
View More Cities Produce Inequality
I am a new member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. On a recent visit, I made use of the vast resources of a very well-stocked library at Chatham House and this book is the first of the loans that I have finished reading. It…
View More Review: Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia To Confront The West – by Keir Giles
The Cuban Revolution was an earth-shattering event with huge consequences internationally, not just in Latin America, but further afield. I felt the impact myself whilst travelling across Scandinavia in 2005. I’d run out of clean underwear and, while scanning the aisles of a Göteborg department store, I came face to…
View More Guerrilla Heroico
Henry Kissinger, a prominent figure in U.S. foreign policy, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 27, 2023. Known for his role as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, he is credited with pivotal moments like U.S.-China relations renewal and criticized for human rights issues in Latin America. His insights remain relevant in contemporary geopolitics.
View More Happy 100th Birthday Henry Kissinger
This book is quite old, first published in 1951, it dates from a period when the totalitarian reality of Hitler and Stalin were very much fresh in the mind. Hannah Arendt was a German Jew and this work is both philosophical, enlightening and gives a valuable educated insight into the…
View More Review: The Origins of Totalitariansm – by Hannah Arendt
I was just chatting away to Ionutz a security nurse in the local mental hospital and he’s Romanian. I passed through Bucharest a few years ago en route to Istanbul on a train journey traversing Eastern Europe. Romania seemed quite rural, poor and quite different to the Europe with which…
View More Review: Red Horizons – The True Story of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescus’ Crimes, Lifestyle, and Corruption – by Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa
Under Nikita Khrushchev, the easing of oppression allowed Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” to emerge despite censorship. This poignant narrative reflects the grim reality of gulag life, showcasing a political prisoner’s struggle and survival amid harsh conditions, offering a lens into the human capacity for resilience and appreciation.
View More Review: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
I read a lot of Russian literature and am becoming a bit of an aficionado. This book was first recommended to me by an ex-girlfriend from Serbia and it’s taken me a while to actually get around to completing it but I finally have done so and can produce this…
View More Review: The Master and Margarita – by Mikhail Bulgakov
Graham Greene delivers here a classic espionage novel, fiction, set in Cuba around the time of the revolution, Greene writes in his knowledgeable subject area of expertise a comedy account of a chance vacuum salesman being recruited by Mi6 as their ‘Man in Havana.’ Struggling lone parent Wormold runs a…
View More Review: Our Man in Havana – by Graham Greene
‘War and Peace’ needs no introduction. It holds its place in the minds of contemporary society as a literary classic. One cannot pick up a newspaper article on great books without a passing mention of Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece. Like other classical works such as the Bible, I think that their…
View More Review: War and Peace – by Leo Tolstoy
This is one of the very best books I have ever read. It is up to date material and full of cutting edge military theory and ideas and I believe is critical essential reading for any politician or military personnel, especially those who conduct their employment in the NATO led…
View More Review: The Dragons and the Snakes – How The Rest Learned to Fight The West – by David Kilcullen