Big Money, the weakness of politicians, and the failure of education has led to a decline in the general quality of the media, both in the culture it promotes and most significantly in its coverage. Big Money either owns the media directly, or influences it indirectly, bending the media to its will, through advertising. Today,…
Demonstrations and strikes used to be announced, controlled, and organized. Nowadays, these protests are of such importance they can disrupt an entire city. Strikes can paralyze an entire country. Now, we must all schedule our lives around a calendar of strikes. The degeneration of the power and quality of politicians, and the rise of their…
Corruption has always existed; it is a human quality. However, there used to be rules to corruption. There are regions where corruption is more apparent, such as in the East where traditions of bribery existed, and its practice was quite open. We knew who to give to, and how much to give. We could almost…
There once was a time when true leaders of great stature dominated politics. Some were good, many more were not, but at least we can say that they were neither small, nor banal, nor mediocre. I met many of these explosive personalities of great influence. I remember hearing passionate debates and speeches in the halls…
There are countless companies and individuals that we consider rich, but Big Money is not merely the rich. Big Money is comprised of those who live above the rich, with unimaginable, nearly limitless funds and financial resources. They are the largest corporations and holding companies in the world: weapons manufacturers and defense contractors, oil and…
We have finished with Lived History, but History never ends. History is today, tomorrow too. History is our current situation, the one in which we live. We must be observant in order to face it, We must analyze it in order to confront it. We must understand it at its core before we act. I…
The principle consequence of the fall of the Soviet Union was the dramatic imbalance of having the United States as the exclusive global power. Until then, political power had dominated in the Soviet Union, as it did similarly in the United States, owing to the tension and struggle between the two empires. After the disappearance…
After a dozen or so years in New York, we felt the time had come to make a choice between the United States and Europe. We chose our continent. Our decision was aided by an event that changed all the rule: the fall of the Soviet Union. Personally, I was shocked. I never thought the…
A united Europe faced many new challenges. First was the cost, in particular the absurdity of the two parliaments in Brussels and Strasbourg. The senseless waste and the extravagant expenses were described to us by Jimmy Goldsmith, our friend who was elected to the European Parliament. Then there were the competing centripetal and centrifugal forces…
It was 19th century Greece during King Otto of Bavaria’s reign. An elusive thief named Christos Davelis was ravaging the area of Mount Pentecliicus around north Athens. Word also had it that he was very handsome: so much so that he may well have seduced the Duchess of Plaisance. Sophie de Marbois was Lebrun’s widow,…
Saint Bertrand de Comminges is a beautiful, old small city poised amongst the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is nestled amidst forests beyond lowlands full of History. A cathedral full of marvellous items dominates the city. Very old houses and private mansions line the twisty-turny streets. Bertrand de Got had been one of its bishops…
Behind the hotel, which had once been the villa of Mabel Dodge in Taos, lay a vast prairie, which stretched out to the horizon where it met a range of lofty mountains. I asked the headmistress, the sharp-witted lady with the shaven head, how we could get onto the prairie to take a walk. “You…
Briskly, he walks through the French Quarters, crosses Jackson Square, turns around the Saint Louis Cathedral and reaches the gates of the cemetery bearing the same name. Now, he is no longer in a hurry. He takes his time to dawdle amongst the graves, looking for the one on which to lie. The moon, shining…