There was a really good book on this that I read about a decade ago: The Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze. (View Post)

She will forever be in my heart for the radio interview regarding her book Outrages, in which she wrote movingly about all the people executed in the UK for their sexuality, due to court records cont… (View Post)

My 14 year old son would have slept through that. (View Post)

It's worth quoting the entire paragraph: "Bashar al-Assad's personal net worth is pegged at around $1.5 billion, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, there have… (View Post)

While I'm sure Assad plundered Syria, I don't believe he can possibly have stolen so much: the Syrian economy simply isn't big enough to steal $135 billion from. And, in particular, it… (View Post)