20 + 1 Best Books I’ve Read in 2021
This is the last time I’m ever doing New Year’s resolutions. My resolution for 2021 was to read less – not because I hate reading but to have more diverse …
Read MoreTag: russia
TDC’s Best Communist Jokes
Dark humour is like food, Stalin once said, not everyone gets it. Well, he didn’t actually say it – it was just a meme. The real Stalin wasn’t a funny …
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They were for it before they were against it
Another anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe came and went with the now usual disgruntlement bubbling between Russia and all the other participants. This year …
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Happy 1055th birthday Poland!
You might have had some rough times recently, but you don’t look a day older than a millennium. On the Holy Saturday, 14 April 966, Poland had officially entered the …
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America’s mythical allies – and the real ones
Sam Vinograd, an Obama administration nat sec alumnus – and now, needless to say, a CNN nat sec analyst – is hearing sounds: It's like I can almost hear our …
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When Poland saved Europe
A hundred years ago this week, a series of biggest battles that Europe were to witness between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the beginning of …
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America is bad for democracy, say allies
Dalia Research, the Alliance for Democracies and Rasmussen International have released the results of the Democracy Perception Index, the largest study of its kind, based on interviews with 124,000 people in …
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Who Won World War Two?
The commemorations and celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War were mooted this year. No obligatory parades or gathering took place at the time of …
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Those That Trust Trump, or Who Hearts America?
A fascinating update, courtesy of Pew Research Center, on attitudes towards the United States around the world, best summarised in this table: It’s personally interesting to note that Poland is the …
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Russia and China after your internet
Nothing good ever comes of when these two take interest in something: The United Nations on Friday approved a Russian-led bid that aims to create a new convention on cybercrime, …
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That time Poland was wearing a short skirt
The year wouldn’t go past without Vladimir Putin managing to again eschew any role in starting the Second World War and instead blaming Poland for getting invaded: Speaking at a …
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The Great Australian Nothingburger
The hills are alive with the sound of shrieking (because it’s a day ending with -day) from the Democrats and their PR wing in the mainstream media, with the new …
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The Fourth Partition
It’s 2019, so over the next few years we will commemorate a number of 80th anniversaries connected with the Second World War. British people will be reminded of their darkest …
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The two “what if”s of September 1939
Eighty years ago, Germany invaded Poland from the west, the north and the south, starting World War Two. Seventeen days later. the Soviet Union invaded from the east, completing the …
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Russia tries to normalise Ribbentrop-Molotov
The other day the world (mostly Eastern Europe and a few history buffs) remembered to 80th anniversary of the signing in Moscow of the infamous Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact between the …
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Chernobyl versus nuclear power
I don’t know whether it was the intention of the creators of HBO’s “Chernobyl” mini-series to scare the viewers’ pants off about the nuclear technology (I do know it was …
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The Collusion Delusion
I’ve always remained sceptical of the claims of conspiracies between Trump and Putin. It’s not because I’m a fan of Trump’s (and definitely not Putin’s). And it’s certainly not because …
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Stalin – more popular than ever
Read this, weep, and just think what the world’s reaction would be if 70 per cent of Germans approved of Hitler’s role in their history: Seventy percent of Russian respondents …
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Should we laugh at evil?
Theodor Ardano had once famously written, “After Auschwitz, no poetry”. One can understand the sentiment even today. But there is poetry. And there is comedy. But not about Auschwitz, of …
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The strange attraction of communist brutalism
Last month “The New York Times Style Magazine” asked the question that no one has really been asking anywhere: “Can Poland’s Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed?” My short answer was …
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