The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan - 9 out of 10

 The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

 

9 out of 10

 

 

This is an impressive, remarkable history book, recommended by The Economist – this time, it was my cup of tea, whereas Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/bridget-jones-edge-of-reason-by-helen.html was not exactly exhilarating

 

At least, not for yours truly, amusing, yes, only the greatest media outlet that I know of has placed it among the top five or ten comedy books, and that my friend The Edge of Reason is not, maybe on the edge between an entertaining read, and one that is rather superfluous, however much we hear of Martin Amis and other luminaries

There is a lot about Iran in The Silk roads, and for good reason, we need the insight of learning about the past, to better understand the present, and anticipate some of the future "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" — George Santayana, and we have situations that show the truth of that

 

The example of the Ukraine war is one argument, Putin’s Russia had occupied Crimea, some years back, an expert warned that the dictator will not stop there – examples have been offered, the appeasement of Hitler is one – and what do you think, more than two years ago, Russia has invaded part of Ukraine, and alas, it is making progress

Iran has been in the news over the past few days, and just a few hours I was speaking about the death of their loathsome president - De mortuis nil nisi bonum only some monsters deserve no such treatment, do we need to spare Mussolini, Mao…some folks tend to use ambiguity, well, different opinions must be tolerated

 

At the sauna, yesterday, I was criticizing an apparatchik, who is making the apology of communism, says Trump won the 2020 elections, and he (Orange Jesus) is such a nice fellow, I have only contempt for all these statements, and as listed in the standard ending, I took part in the 1989 Revolution that toppled Ceausescu

The link is at the end of these lines, so you could just go there, or maybe you wish to stop reading altogether (makes some sense, albeit you do not know what you will be missing, neither do I for that matter) and so I strongly affirmed that communism is heinous, murderous, but interlocutors fumbled with this

There is this relativism, well, for that old man it was a good system, you bet it was, he was of the nomenclature, with a flat or house in the center, had food, heat, a beast of privilege in a sea of wretched creatures, the hoi polio had to wait for hours to get some bread, or anything, suffered in cold, power cuts

 

We can also see another catastrophe in the making, due ion part to ignorance in historical matters, Russia could engulf Ukraine, then move on to re-establish the Soviet Union, assert itself in that old sphere of influence, pulling our realms in their embrace, and then what will we do, America is far from perfect, but Russia is hell

Putin has said that the biggest calamity of the last century was the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and he works to make it up again- and he gets help from the most unbelievable quarters – a colonel in our army, who is supposed to know his foes, was telling me at the sauna that ‘life is good in Russia, we do not know it’

 

Furthermore, he was saying that ‘they tell you the wrong, false things here’, this traitor was actually doing the Kremlin’s work, from the worst possible position, pushing enemy propaganda, and for me, making it clear that his loyalties are not with the ‘right side’, he believes that in our camp, they lie, he supports Putin

He is not the only one, of course, the Republicans in the US have now become members of a cult, the fanatics that worship Orange Jesus, a moron who admires Putin and Strong men in general, he wants to be one, spoke recently of three terms, disavowed the 202 elections, if he is not elected, then he rejects the vote

 

This is what Russia, Iran, China want to do, to weaken trust in democracy, promote a new world order, in which might be right, despots make the rules, and Trump and his troupes make sure that the game is won by the axis of evil, on Ukraine, he expressed admiration for Putin, ‘who took so much land, so quickly’, he will give land to the foe

Indeed, Orange Jesus does not see Putin as an adversary, for the latter has said some flattering words, because the monster is cunning, and saw that for a ridiculous, vain, selfish fool, this is all you need, tell him how smart he is, and then speculate, use his immense stupidity, and vanquish him, his country, for which he does not care

 

MAGA is the slogan, but the reality is that you have a would-be tyrant, and his threat is analyzed in a recent edition of The Economist – we saw what happened on the Capitol Hill, on January 6, 2021 when the once mighty democracy was brought on its knees, for some hours, by a mob instigated by the losing president

The Silk Roads is a splendid instrument in understanding this, Iran, Afghanistan, it covers recent and distant history and let me mention the story told at the end of Charlie Wilson’s War, the Zen Master who keeps saying we shall see

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”